TAYTAY'S  TALES 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
AT   LOS  ANGELES 


During  the  long  winter  nights 
Taytay  told  tales  to  his  little 
grandson. 


TAYTAY'S  TALES 


COLLECTED  AND  RETOLD 


BY 
ELIZABETH  WILLIS  DEHUFF 


ILLUSTRATIONS  BY 

FRED  KABOTIE  AND  OTIS  POLELONEMA 


NEW  YORK 
HARCOURT,  BRACE  AND  COMPANY 


COPYRIGHT,  1922,  BT 
HARCOURT,  BRACE  AND  COMPANY,   IRC. 


Printed  in  the  U.  S.  A. 


X 


SNi 

\ 


TO 

ANN,  FRANCES  AND  JOHN  DAVID,  JR. 

WHO  HAVE  BEEN  THE  INSPIRATION 

FOR  THIS  COLLECTION. 


462017 


PREFACE 

Taytay's  Tales  were  collected  for  a  little  girl 
with  an  insatiable  thirst  for  "stories."  The  first 
ones  were  gotten  by  chance  from  the  young  Indian 
boy  who  has  kindly  illustrated  this  collection.  Ann 
enjoyed  them  so  thoroughly  that  we  teased  and 
cajoled  other  Indians  into  telling  us  other  folk- 
tales, and  so  the  number  and  our  joy  in  them 
grew.  We  think  perhaps  other  little  children — and 
some  grown-ups,  too — may  derive  the  same  pleasure 
from  them,  so  we  should  like  to  share  our  stories. 

As  mentioned  above,  the  illustrations  have  been 
sketched  and  painted  by  a  seventeen-year-old 
Hopi  boy  Fred  Kabotie,  whose  Indian  name  is 
N a-kah-woh-ma  (It  happens  again  and  again  like 
the  sunrise),  with  the  exception  of  a  few  of  the 
pen-and-ink  sketches  drawn  by  Otis  Polelonema, 
another  Hopi  boy.  Neither  of  these  boys  has  had 
any  training  in  art.  They  have  drawn  and  painted 
the  pictures  according  to  their  own  conceptions  of 


vi  PREFACE 

the  stories.  The  dance  pictures  all  represent  real 
ceremonies  still  celebrated  yearly  by  the  Pueblo 
Indians  of  the  Southwest.  The  medicine  men's 
ceremony  is  "secret";  nobody  is  allowed  to  witness 
it  except  the  nearest  relatives  of  the  sick  person 
upon  whom  they  are  trying  to  work  their  charms. 

As  is  always  true  with  stories  that  are  passed  on 
orally  from  one  generation  to  another,  these  folk- 
tales must  have  been  somewhat  changed  in  the 
relating;  but  judging  from  the  accuracy  of  detail 
insisted  upon  when  they  were  told  to  me,  I  believe 
that  the  change  has  been  very  slight.  To  what  ex- 
tent, if  any,  they  have  been  influenced  by  the  folk- 
lore of  other  countries  and  races,  or  the  Indian  tales 
have  influenced  those  of  other  races,  I  do  not 
know.  There  is  a  marked  similarity  between  Little 
Red  Riding  Hood  and  Juanita,  Marianita,  the  Cat 
and  the  Bear,  and  also  between  Uncle  Remus's  Tar 
Baby  and  The  Gum  Baby;  but  the  Indian  relaters 
insist  that  these  two  tales  were  told  to  them  by 
their  grandfathers,  and  they  were  "already  then 
very  old  when  my  grandfather  heard  them." 


PREFACE  vii 

It  is  interesting  to  compare  the  stories  of  the  differ- 
ent pueblos,  where  the  Indians  have  intermarried 
among  themselves  for  so  many  generations  that 
each  pueblo  is  a  distinct  world  unto  itself.  In  Schat- 
chen,  a  book  of  myths  collected  from  the  Laguna 
Pueblo  by  John  M.  Gunn,  the  story  The  Coyote 
and  the  Horned  Toad  is  almost  identical  with  The 
Fox  and  the  Lizard,  which  was  also  gotten  from  the 
Laguna  Pueblo,  but  told  by  a  different  narrator. 

In  Charles  F.  Lummis's  Pueblo  Indian  Folk- 
Stories,  told  by  the  Indians  of  Isleta  Pueblo  (there 
are  none  from  that  source  in  this  collection),  there 
are  several  incidents  somewhat  similar  to  The  Coy- 
ote and  the  Fox,  Deh-a,  The  Fox  and  the  Skunk, 
Dy-yoh-wi  and  His  Eagle,  The  Fate  of  the  Boy  Witch, 
The  Fate  of  the  Witch  Wife  and  The  Man-Eater. 
While  these  stories  differ  widely  from  the  ones  con- 
tained in  this  volume,  they  show  a  decided  relation- 
ship of  origin. 

The  choice  of  the  title  was  suggested  by  the  fact 
that  the  Indian  "Taytay"  or  grandfather  is  usually 
the  one  who  tells  the  stories  to  the  children. 


viii  PREFACE 

In  order  to  help  mothers,  and  other  readers  of 
these  tales-to-little-folks,  answer  the  question  after 
question — almost  ad  infinitum — that  such  little 
folks  like  to  ask,  I  have  added  a  glossary  of  ex- 
planatory notes. 

I  very  much  appreciate  the  kind  criticism  of  Mrs. 
Mary  Austin  who  suggests  that  I  make  it  clearer 
in  these  notes  that  "the  tales  are  not  nearly  so  cruel 
to  the  Amerind  mind  as  they  seem  to  us.  There 
is  the  same  childlike  spirit  of  fun  behind  them  that 
prompts  children  to  snow  ball  one  another,  and  play 
such  pranks  as  throwing  one  another  in  the  creek. 
There  is  another  item  of  primitive  psychology  which 
renders  the  tales  innocuous  to  the  tribal  mind,  and 
that  is  the  idea  of  physical  life,  especially  for  animals, 
as  a  kind  of  masquerade,  something  that  can  be  put 
on  and  off  at  will.  In  the  fox  and  coyote  stories 
the  victim  is  continually  being  resuscitated  by  this 
magic  power  of  putting  on  and  off  his  animal  life, 
and  there  is  no  more  cruelty  in  the  idea  than  in  the 
East  Indian  idea  of  transmigration." 

These  Indians  of  the  Rio  Grande  valley  of  New 


PREFACE  ix 

Mexico  and  the  north  central  mesas  of  Arizona  are 
not  only  superstitious  and  fatalistic;  but  they  are 
believers  in  immortality  of  animal  as  well  as  human 
hearts,  except  when  burned.  If  a  tale  ends  with 
the  death  of  an  animal  its  heart  in  new  dress  is  simply 
transferred  to  some  other  place,  and  not  extermina- 
tion but  a  great  joke  has  taken  place — the  primitive 
idea  of  fun-making. 

I  wish  to  acknowledge  my  indebtedness  and 
express  my  thanks  to  the  Indian  men  and  children 
who  have  kindly  related  these  folktales  to  me.  I 
have  attempted  to  write  them  in  as  simple  and 
direct  a  manner  as  they  were  told;  and  Ann  and  I 
hope  that  other  little  children  may  enjoy  them  as 
much  as  she  does. 

ELIZABETH  WILLIS  DE  HUFF 


CONTENTS 

•  PAGE 

THE  COYOTE  AND  THE  FOX  3 

JUANITA,  MARIANITA,  THE  CAT  AND  THE  BEAR 8 

THE  OLD  LADY  FOX  AND  THE  OLD  HEN 14 

THE  COYOTE  AND  THE  TURTLE 18 

THE  FOX  AND  THE  TURKEY 22 

THE  ENVIOUS  COYOTE...: 25 

MR.  "GET-EVEN"  COYOTE. . '. 30 

BUNNY  COTTONTAIL  AND  THE  CRANE 33 

THE  MAN-EATER 36 

THE  FOX  THAT  FLEW 40 

A  WAR  BETWEEN  THE  BIRDS  AND  THE  ANIMALS 44 

THE  FOX  AND  THE  LIZARD 46 

THE  ROBIN  AND  THE  BEAR 51 

WHITE  CORN  AND  HER  SONS  FIRE 55 

THE  PINE-GUM  BABY 61 

THE  FOX  AND  THE  INDIANS 65 

THE  COYOTE    AND  THE  BLACKBIRDS 70 

PAH-TAY  AND  THE  WIND-WITCH 72 

MR.  COYOTE  AND  TWO  PRETTY  GIRLS 80 

DEH-A 83 

THE  CONCEITED  ANT 88 

THE  FOX  AND  THE  SKUNK 92 

TEN  LITTLE  PRAIRIE  DOGS 95 

THE  BEE  AND  THE  FOX 98 


xii  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

THE  FOX  AND  THE  MICE 100 

DY-YOH-WI  AND  HIS  EAGLE 105 

THE  THIEVING  FOXES 109 

BUNNY  RABBIT  AND  THE  KING  OF  BEASTS 112 

THE  LITTLE  INDIAN  BOY  WHO  WAS  CHANGED  INTO  AN  OWL  116 

THE  FOX  AND  THE  SHEEP 119 

WHITE  CORN  AND  THE  GRASSHOPPERS 122 

POH-VE  AND  PAH-DAY 125 

THUN-TSAY  AND  COHN-NAH 132 

THE  MEADOW  LARK  AND  THE  FOX 137 

THE  FATE  OF  THE  BOY  WITCH 141 

JUAN  HALF-BEAR 

PART  1 149 

PART  II 153 

THE  MAN  FROM  THE  NORTH,  THE  GIRL  AND  THE  TURTLE  159 

THE  DEER  AND  THE  COYOTE 162 

THE  BOY  AND  THE  PIG 165 

THE  FOX  AND  THE  CROWS 168 

THE  RABBIT  AND  THE  CROW 170 

THE  FATE  OF  THE  WITCH  WIFE 172 

GREEN  CORN,  YELLOW  CORN  AND  THE  DANCING  FOX  ....  183 

A  LITTLE  CINDERELLA 186 

THE  BOY,  THE  COYOTE  AND  THE  MAGIC  ROCK 191 

THE  BAD  LITTLE  GIRL  OF  ACOMA 194 

GLOSSARY 199 


COLORED   ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

DURING  THE  LONG  WINTER  NIGHTS  TAYTAY  TOLD  TALES 
TO  HIS  LITTLE  GRANDSON frontispiece 

THE  FOXES  CAME  AND  HAD  A  MERRY  DINNER 14 

PO -KONG- WHO -YER  AND   PAH  -  LOONG  -  AH  -  WHO  -  YER 
STOPPED  RUNNING  AND  TURNED  AROUND 38 

MR.  COYOTE  DASHED  OUT  ON  THE  ICE  BESIDE  THE  BLACK- 
BIRDS     70 

THE  MEDICINE  MEN  WERE  DANCING  WITH  THEIR  RATTLES    78 

THE  INDIANS  WERE  HAVING  A  BIG  KACHINA  DANCE 108 

POH-VE  SAW  HIM  COMING,  SO  SHE  HELD  HER  HEAD  DOWN. .  130 

MR.  FOX  CAME  UP  THE  LADDER  AND  BEGAN  DANCING  ON 
THE  ROOF 184 


TAYTAY'S  TALES 


THE  COYOTE  AND  THE  FOX 

(San  Juan  Pueblo.} 

O-way-way-ham-by-yoh,  which  means  long  time 
ago,  a  fox  felt  very  hungry,  so  he  went  down 
into  prairie-dog  town  and  caught  a  fine  fat  prairie 
dog.  Then  he  built  a  fire  of  dry  rabbit  brush. 
When  the  brush  had  all  burned  up  and  left  a  pile 
of  coals,  Mr.  Fox  took  his  prairie  dog  and  covered 
him  all  up  with  the  hot  ashes.  That  was  the  way 
he  always  roasted  meat  for  his  dinner.  It  required 
some  time  for  the  prairie  dog  to  roast,  so  Mr.  Fox 
lay  down  and  went  to  sleep. 

Very  soon  Mr.  Coyote  came  along.  Sniff!  sniff! 
he  could  smell  meat  roasting  and  it  smelt  very 
delicious.  He  saw  Mr.  Fox  fast  asleep;  so  he 
slipped  quietly  over  to  the  pile  of  ashes,  stuck  his 
paw  in  and  pulled  out  the  prairie  dog.  He  ran 
behind  a  bush  and  ate  all  of  the  meat  off,  but  he 
left  the  bones,  Then  he  took  a  bone  and  greased 


4  THE  COYOTE  AND  THE  FOX 

the  fox's  mouth  all  around  with  a  greasy  end  of  it. 
After  that  he  put  the  bones  back  under  the  hot 
ashes  and  ran  away. 

When  Mr.  Fox  awoke,  he  could  smell  prairie  dog 


Then  he  took  a  bone  and  greased  the  fox's  mouth 

grease.  He  licked  his  tongue  out  and  tasted  grease 
all  around  his  mouth.  "Surely  I  have  not  eaten 
the  prairie  dog  while  I  was  asleep.  No,  I  feel  too 
hungry;  but  where  did  this  grease  come  from  on  my 
mouth,  if  I  did  not  eat  him?"  Mr.  Fox  was  very 
much  puzzled.  He  went  over  to  the  ashes  and 
caught  hold  of  a  prairie  dog  foot  and  pulled. 
Out  came  a  long  leg  bone  without  any  meat  on  it. 
"This  is  funny,"  thought  he. 

Just   then   he   spied    some   tracks    in   the   sand. 
"Oho!"  said  he,  "Now  I  understand  it  all.    Coyote- 


THE  COYOTE  AND  THE  FOX  5 

man  has  played  a  trick  on  me  and  eaten  my 
prairie  dog.  I'll  catch  him  and  kill  him  for 
this." 

So  Mr.  Fox  trotted  off  following  the  coyote 
tracks.  He  found  the  coyote  by  a  high  cliff.  Mr. 
Coyote  saw  Mr.  Fox  coming  and  he  knew  he  was 
angry.  He  did  not  have  time  to  run  away,  so  he 
just  leaned  against  the  cliff  and  called,  "Oh, 
Fox-man,  come  here  quick  and  help  me!  Look  up 
there,  this  cliff  is  falling!  It  will  kill  us  both!" 
Mr.  Fox  looked  up.  The  clouds  were  passing  over 
the  cliff  and  made  the  cliff  look 
as  if  it  were  really  falling.  Mr. 
Fox  jumped  quickly  over  by  Mr. 
Coyote  and  leaned  against  the  cliff 
just  as  hard  as  he  could  to  hold  it 
up.  As  soon  as  Mr.  Fox  leaned  on 
the  cliff,  Mr.  Coyote  jumped  away. 
He  made  a  big  jump,  just  as  if  the  f^t 

/% '  '*  *  t*. 

cliff  might  really  fall  on  him.  &M\h  \ 

^Ssr'Kr 

"  Hold  the  cliff  up,  Fox-man,  while  "* ' 

-  .  Mr.  Fox  leaning  hard 

1  go  to  get  a  stick  to  prop  it  with."       against  the  cliff 


6  THE  COYOTE  AND  THE  FOX 

Then  Mr.  Coyote  ran  away  and  left  Mr.  Fox 
leaning  hard  against  the  cliff. 

Mr.  Fox  stayed  there  all  day  waiting  for  Mr. 
Coyote  to  come  with  the  stick.  Late  that  evening 
he  looked  up  and  there  were  no  clouds  passing,  so 
he  could  see  that  the  cliff  was  not  falling.  He  knew 
that  the  coyote  had  played  another  trick  on  him, 
so  he  was  angrier  than  ever. 

Again  he  followed  the  coyote  tracks  and  found 
the  coyote  down  by  the  river. 

When  Mr.  Coyote  saw  Mr.  Fox  coming,  he 
called: 

"Oh,  Fox-man,  come  quick  and  see  what  I  have 
for  you.  I  found  a  cheese  and  I  saved  half  of  it 
for  you;  but  it  has  fallen  into  the  river.  Look!" 

And  Mr.  Fox  looked  down  into  the  water.    There 
was  the  reflection  of  the  half-moon  in  the  water. 
It  looked  just  like  the  half  of  a  round  cheese  and 
Mr.  Fox's  mouth  began  to  water  for  a  taste  of  it. 
He  was  very  hungry. 

"I  wonder  how  I  can  get  that  cheese!"  he  said. 

"I'll  tell  you  how.     Let  me  tie  the  end  of  this 


THE  COYOTE  AND  THE  FOX  7 

rope" — for  Mr.  Coyote  had  a  rope  all  ready — 
"around  your  tail  and  tie  the  other  end  to  this 
big  stone.  Then  you  can  jump  into  the  river 
and  get  the  cheese.  When  you  have  got  hold  of  it, 
call  me  and  I  will  pull  you  out." 

Mr.  Fox  thought  that  was  a  good  scheme,  so  he 
let  Mr.  Coyote  tie  the  rope  around  his  tail  and 
around  the  stone.  Then  Mr.  Fox  jumped  into  the 
river  with  a  big  splash. 

As  soon  as  he  did,  Mr.  Coyote  threw  the  stone  in 
after  him,  and  if  the  rope  had  not  slipped  off  of 
Mr.  Fox's  tail  when  it  got  wet,  that  would  have 
been  the  end  of  poor  old  Mr.  Fox. 


JUANITA,  MARIANITA,  THE  CAT  AND 
THE  BEAR 

(San  Juan  Pueblo.) 

O-way-way-ham-by-yoh,  the  meaning  of  which 
you  already  know,  an  Indian  man  and  woman  had 
two  daughters,  Juanita  and  Marianita.  Juanita 
was  older  than  Marianita,  so  whenever  their  father 
and  mother  went  to  a  fiesta — that  is,  a  kind  of 
picnic  and  dance — they  always  took  Juanita  and 
left  Marianita  at  home  with  the  cat. 

One  day  the  father  and  mother  and  Juanita 
went  to  a  fiesta  to  stay  all  day  and  all  night.  That 
afternoon  when  Marianita  was  cutting  up  meat  to 
make  a  stew  for  her  supper,  the  cat  sat  down  beside 
her  and  begged  for  some  of  the  meat.  She  gave 
him  some;  then  she  got  him  some  water;  she 
stroked  his  fur;  and  she  did  all  sorts  of  nice  things 
for  him. 

That    evening    when    it    began    to    grow    dark 

8 


JUANITA  AND  MARIANITA  9 

Marianita  was  afraid;  for  there  was  no  one  in  the 
house  with  her,  you  know,  but  the  cat. 

"Don't  be  afraid,"  said  the  cat,  "You  fasten 
the  door  and  the  windows  tight  and  I  will  take 
care  of  you. " 

So  Marianita  locked  the  door  and  fastened  the 
windows. 

That  night  a  bear  came  to  the  door  and  knocked. 
The  cat  peeped  out  through  a  crack  to  see  who  was 
knocking.  He  saw  the  bear — for  cats  can  see  at 
night — so  he  called  out:  "I  am  sorry  we  cannot 
open  the  door  for  you,  Bear-man,  but  we  are  busy 
making  a  fire." 

The  bear  waited  a  while  and  then  knocked 
again.  But  the  cat  said,  "We  are  making  bread 
now,  so  we  cannot  open  the  door. " 

The  bear  waited  and  knocked  a  third  time. 
"Open  the  door.  I  have  presents  for  you."  This 
time  the  cat  called,  "I  am  sorry  but  we  are  baking 
the  bread  and  we  cannot  open  the  door. " 

The  bear  grew  tired  of  waiting.  He  tried  to 
break  the  door  down  but  it  was  too  strong  so  he 


io  JUANITA  AND  MARIANITA 

started  away.  Just  then  the  cat  opened  the  door 
and  jumped  out  upon  the  bear's  back.  It  startled 
the  bear  so,  that  he  dropped  the  bundle  of  presents. 
The  bundle  fell  open  and  the  most  beautiful 
jewelry  and  dresses  and  fine  things  that  Marianita 
had  ever  seen  fell  out. 

The  bear  was  so  frightened  that  he  ran  away  and 
Marianita   went  out   and   gathered   up   all  of  the 
beautiful  things.    She  dressed  the  cat  up  in  a  pretty 
little  dress  and  some  beaded  shoes,  that 
just  fitted  him.     Then  she  dressed  herself 
in  a  new  dress  and  put  on  all  of  the  jewels. 
When  the  father,  mother  and  Juanita 
came  home  next  morning,  the  cat  ran  out 
to  meet  them.     They  were  surprised  to 
She  dressed    see    his   dress    and    shoes    and  wondered 
1"  what  had  happened.     He  told  them,  but 


little  dress  they  ^jj  nQt  understand  him.  He  told 
them  again  and  they  still  did  not  understand,  so 
they  went  into  the  house  in  a  hurry  to  see  what  the 
cat  meant.  They  were  so  pleased  to  see  Marianita 
looking  so  fine  that  they  hugged  her  up  tight. 


JUANITA  AND  MARIANITA  11 

"Where  did  you  get  these  lovely  things?"  And 
Marianita  told  them  all  about  the  bear. 

The  next  time  the  Indians  had  a  fiesta,  Juanita 
let  Marianita  go  with  their  father  and  mother. 
She  wanted  to  stay  at  home,  so  that  the  bear  could 
bring  her  some  pretty  things. 

That  afternoon,  when  Juanita  was  cutting  up 
meat  for  her  stew,  the  cat  sat  beside  her  and  begged 
for  some  of  the  meat;  but  Juanita  would  not  give 
him  any.  Instead  she  struck  at  the  cat  with  her 
knife  and  treated  him  mean. 

The  cat  climbed  up  on  the  window  and  went  to 
sleep.  When  it  grew  dark  and 
Juanita  began  to  feel  afraid  at 
being  all  alone,  the  cat  pretended 
to  still  be  asleep.  He  did  not  say  anything  to  her 
about  the  door  and  windows  and  Juanita  did  not 
think  to  fasten  them. 

That  night  when  the  bear  came  to  knock  on  the 
door,  he  found  the  door  unlocked,  so  he  walked 
right  into  the  house.  Juanita  thought  he  had  come 
to  bring  her  some  fine  clothes,  so  she  said,  "Good- 


12  JUANITA  AND  MARI ANITA 

evening,  Bear-man,  won't  you  have  a  seat?"  and 

the  bear  sat  down  beside  her. 

"What    makes    your    feet    so    big,    Bear-man?" 
"To  walk  the  faster,  little  one." 
"Well,  what  makes  your  nose  so  long?" 
"To  scent  the  keener,  little  girl." 
"And  what  makes  your  ears  so  big?" 


Juanita  talking  to  the  bear 

"To  hear  the  better,  my  dear." 

"What  makes  your  eyes  so  bright?" 

"To  see  the  farther." 

"What  makes  your  teeth  so  long?" 

"To  eat  you  up." 

And  the  bear  ran  away  with  Juanita  to  eat  her  up. 


JUANITA  AND  MARIANITA  13 

But  when  the  cat  saw  how  Marianita  grieved  for 
her  sister,  he  ran  to  the  Bear's  den;  jumped  on  the 
back  of  the  Bear's  head;  scratched  out  his  eyes  and 
took  Juanita  back  home  again. 


THE  OLD  LADY  FOX  AND  THE  OLD  HEN 

(Nambe   Pueblo.} 

Once  upon  a  time  there  lived  near  Nambe,  an 
old  Lady  Fox  and  an  old  Hen.  This  old  Lady 
Fox  lived  in  a  cliff  and  the  old  Hen  lived  in  a  hut 
nearby.  Of  course,  they  appeared  to  be  friendly; 
but  at  the  same  time,  old  Mrs.  Fox  was  jealous  of 
Mrs.  Hen,  because  the  hen  was  more  industrious 
than  she  was,  and  she  often  thought  what  a  delicious 
dinner  Mrs.  Hen  would  be.  Each  of  them  had  six 
children, 

One  day  Mrs.  Hen  decided  to  give  a  dinner 
party  for  her  friend  Mrs.  Fox  and  the  little  foxes. 
She  killed  all  of  her  own  children  but  one.  This 
one  she  kept  to  run  errands  for  her.  Then  she 
put  her  chicks  on  to  boil  and  made  a  big  pot  of 
chicken  stew.  Afterward  she  made  a  delicious 
corn  meal  pudding. 

The  foxes  came  and  had  a  merry  dinner,    "  Please 

14 


The  foxes  came  and  had  a  merry 
dinner. 


LADY  FOX  AND  THE  OLD  HEN          15 

put  all  of  the  chicken  bones  back  into  the  dish 
when  you  finish,"  politely  asked  Mrs.  Hen;  "and 
please  you  go,  my  little  chick,  into  the  next  room 
and  bring  me  my  magic  rod."  The  little  chick 
hurried  back  with  the  rod.  Mrs.  Hen  took  it  and 
struck  herself  across  the  nose.  Instantly  an  empty 
dish  was  full  of  pinon  nuts  for  dessert,  which  the 
greedy  foxes  soon  devoured. 

"Come  with  me  now  to  the  river,"  invited  Mrs. 
Hen. 

There    she    threw    the    chicken    bones    into   the 
water  and  at  the  same  time,  she  threw  in  some 
sacred  corn  meal  as  she  re- 
peated   an    Indian  prayer, 
"Pee-pee  sah-key,  my  chil- 
dren come  out  of  the  water." 
Then   all   of    her   chickens       ~,          , , 

1  hen  all  of  her  chickens  came 

came  out  of  the  water  safe  out  of  the  water 

and  sound.  All  this  time  old  Lady  Fox  watched 
her  friend  very  closely;  for  she  intended  to  do  just 
as  Mrs.  Hen  had  done,  when  she  returned  the 
dinner  party. 


16          LADY  FOX  AND  THE  OLD  HEN 

The  very  next  week  Mrs.  Fox  invited  Mrs.  Hen 
and  her  baby  chicks  to  dinner.  She  killed  all  of 
her  baby  foxes  for  a  stew.  She  even  forgot  to 
leave  one  to  help  her.  She  cooked  the  stew  only 
half  done  and  made  a  soggy  corn  meal  pudding. 
When  Mrs.  Hen  and  her  chicks  arrived,  they 
could  only  eat  part  of  the  dinner;  for  it  was  so 
poorly  cooked. 

"Put  the  bones  back  into  the  dish,"  said  Mrs. 
Fox. 

Then  she  got  a  stick  and  struck  herself  across  the 
nose,  as  Mrs.  Hen  had  done,  to  fill  the  dish  with 
pinon  nuts;  but  no  nuts  came.  Instead  she  struck 
herself  so  hard  that  the  blow  made  her  nose  bleed. 
Mrs.  Hen  and  her  chicks  wanted  to  laugh;  but 
they  did  not  dare.  They  had  to  look  down  and 
hold  their  breath  to  keep  the  laugh  inside. 

"Now  we  shall  go  down  to  the  river,"  said  Mrs. 
Fox.  And  down  at  the  river  she  threw  the  little 
fox  bones  into  the  water,  and  called  her  children 
just  as  she  had  seen  Mrs.  Hen  do;  but  the  little 
foxes  did  not  appear.  She  called  and  called;  and 


LADY  FOX  AND  THE  OLD  HEN    17 

finally  she  grew  so  angry  at  the  chickens,  that  she 
jumped  at  them  to  catch  them  and  eat  them  up. 
But  Mrs.  Hen  and  her  chicks  were  too  smart  for 
her.  They  jumped  also  and  flew  away.  Old 
Lady  Fox  flew  into  a  rage;  she  screamed  and 
rolled  herself  over  on  the  ground;  then  she  clawed 
the  ground  until  she  wore  her  claws  all  off;  and 
finally  she  bit  rocks  until  her  teeth  were  all  broken 
off.  She  had  no  babies,  no  claws  and  no  teeth. 


THE  COYOTE  AND  THE  TURTLE 

(Hopi,  2nd  Mesa.) 

Early  one  summer  morning,  once  upon  a  time, 
when  the  ground  was  cool  and  damp,  a  turtle 
crawled  up  out  of  his  home  in  the  river.  He 
crawled  along  hunting  things  to  eat.  He  found  so 
many  good  things  that  he  crawled  farther  and 
farther  away  from  the  river.  He  forgot  all  about 
old  Father  Sun,  who  would  come  peeping  up  over 
the  hills  after  awhile.  If  he  had  been  a  wise  little 
turtle,  he  would  not  have  wandered  so  far  away 
from  home.  River  turtles  have  to  keep  themselves 
damp.  If  they  become  too  dry  they  cannot  walk, 
and  if  the  sun  shines  too  hot  upon  them,  they 
die. 

Now  while  this  little  turtle  was  trudging  slowly 
along,  the  sun  came  up  and  shone  right  down  upon 
him.  He  turned  around  and  started  back  to  the 
river;  but  turtles  travel  so  slowly  and  the  sun  was 

18 


He  climbed  into  a  shady  hole  in 
a  big  rock 


THE  COYOTE  AND  THE  TURTLE    19 

so  hot,  that  he  could  only  get  half  way  there. 
When  he  saw  what  trouble  he  was  in,  he  climbed 
into  a  shady  hole  in  a  big  rock  and  began  to  cry. 

He  cried  so  hard  and  so 
loud  that  a  coyote,  who 
was  passing  near  by,  heard 
him.  The  coyote's  ears 
were  not  very  keen  so  he 
thought  it  was  somebody 
singing. 

"I  must  find  out  who  that  is  singing,"  said 
Mr.  Coyote,  "and  get  him  to  teach  me  that 
song. " 

So  Mr.  Coyote  peeped  around  the  rock  and 
found  the  turtle  with  big  tears  in  his  eyes. 

"Good-day,"  said  Mr.  Coyote,  "that  was  a  nice 
song  you  were  singing.  Won't  you  teach  it  to 
me?" 

"I  was  not  singing,"  replied  the  turtle. 

"I  know  you  were,  for  I  heard  you  and  I  want  to 
learn  your  song.  If  you  do  not  teach  it  to  me  I 
will  swallow  you  whole!" 


20    THE  COYOTE  AND  THE  TURTLE 

"That  cannot  do  me  any  harm,"  said  the  turtle, 
"for  I  have  a  hard  shell  that  will  hurt  your  throat." 

"Well,  if  you  do  not  sing  for  me  I'll  throw  you 
in  the  hot  sun!" 

"That  cannot  harm  me  either,"  said  the  turtle, 
"for  I  can  crawl  under  my  shell." 

"Well  then,"  said  Mr.  Coyote,  "I  will  throw  you 
into  the  river  if  you  do  not  sing. " 

"Oh,  please  Coyote-man  do  not  throw  me  into 


Mr.  Coyote  threw  the  turtle  into  the  tiver 

the  river.    I  might  drown  if  you  do.    Please  do  not 
throw  me  in!" 

"Yes,    I   will!"    and   Mr.    Coyote   took   up    the 
turtle  in  his  mouth  and  threw  him  into  the  river. 


THE  COYOTE  AND  THE  TURTLE    21 

The  little  turtle  swam  out  under  the  water  where 
the  coyote  could  not  reach  him.  Then  he  stuck  his 
head  up  out  of  the  water: 

"Thank  you  very  much,  Coyote-man,  for  throw- 
ing me  into  the  river.  This  is  my  home.  I  had 
no  way  to  get  here.  Thank  you  for  helping  me." 

And  old  Mr.  Coyote  trotted  away  very  angry. 


THE  FOX  AND  THE  TURKEY 

(San  Juan  Pueblo.} 

O-way-way-ham-by-yoh,  long  time  ago,  a  fox 
went  out  to  hunt.  He  had  such  a  good  place  to 
hunt  in,  for  just  north  of  his  den  was  a  stretch  of 
woods,  where  wild  turkeys  and  many  kinds  of 
animals  lived.  He  and  Mrs.  Fox  had  been  living 
on  cow  sinews  for  many  days,  so  he  was  hungry  for 
something  different  to  eat. 

He  hunted  for  a  long  time  until  he  grew  tired. 
When  suddenly  he  found — what  do  you  suppose? — 
a  big  fat  turkey.  He  was  just  ready  to  stick  his 
sharp  teeth  into  the  turkey  to  drag  him  to  his  den, 
when  the  turkey  said;  "Wait,  Fox-man,  are  you 
ill,  you  look  very  pale?  You  look  as  if  you  will 
faint.  Don't  you  want  to  take  a  nap?  You  lie 
down  and  go  to  sleep  and  I'll  go  down  to  your 
house  and  tell  Mrs.  Fox  to  cook  me  for  your 
dinner.  Poor  fellow,  you  look  so  weary!"  This 
made  Mr.  Fox  really  feel  ill. 


22 


THE  FOX  AND  THE  TURKEY  23 

"That  will  be  kind  of  you,  Turkey-Man." 

So  the  turkey  started  off  towards  the  fox's  den 
and  the  fox  watched  him  until  he  reached  the  door, 
then  he  lay  down  under  a  tree  and  went  to  sleep. 

When  the  turkey  reached  the  door  of  the  fox's 
den,  he  knocked  loudly. 

"Who's  there?",  asked  Mrs.  Fox. 

"Just  a  friend  with  a  message  for  you." 

"Won't  you  come  in?" 

"No,  thank  you,  I  am  in  a  hurry.  Mr.  Fox 
asked  me  to  come  by  to  tell  you  that  he  will  be 
back  soon.  He  is  very  hungry  and  wants  you  to 
cook  him  a  mess  of  cow  sin- 
ews for  his  dinner." 

And  then   the   turkey  ran 
away. 

Mrs.    Fox    got    busy    and 

COoked       SOme       COW       sinews.         Then  the  turkey  ran  away 

Very  soon  Mr.  Fox  came  home  smacking  his  lips. 
He  was  so  pleased  to  think  what  a  delicious  turkey 
dinner  he  was  going  to  have. 

Mrs.  Fox  brought  the  dinner  and  set  it  on  the 


24  THE  FOX  AND  THE  TURKEY 

table  before  Mr.  Fox.  He  bit  off  a  big  piece  and 
began  to  chew. 

"This  is  the  toughest  turkey  I  have  ever  tasted," 
said  he.  "It  tastes  more  like  cow  sinews  than 
turkey  to  me.  What  is  the  matter  with  it?" 

"Turkey!"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Fox.  "Why  I  have 
no  turkey!  These  are  cow  sinews.  Some  one 
knocked  at  the  door  this  morning.  He  told  me 
you  were  hungry  and  wanted  me  to  cook  cow 
sinews  for  your  dinner  right  away." 

"Oh,"  groaned  Mr.  Fox,  "that  must  have  been 
the  turkey!" 


THE  ENVIOUS  COYOTE 


(Hopi,  2nd  Mesa.} 

Once  there  was  an  old  coyote  with  five  ugly, 
snarling  baby  coyotes.  They  lived  near  a  deer, 
who  had  two  pretty  spotted  baby  deer,  called 
fawns.  One  day  Mrs.  Coyote  said  to  Mrs.  Deer: 
"How  pretty  your 
fawns  are,  Mrs.  Deer. 
How  did  you  make 
the  spots  on  them  ?  I 
should  like  to  make 
my  babies  spotted 
too." 

"Oh,    I    smoked 
them  with  corn  cobs. 
I  made  a  fire  of  cobs  /s'fffi 
in  my  house  and  as 
soon    as    the    house 

He  pushed  the  five  little  coyotes  in  and 
Was   full  of   Smoke,   I  shut  the  door 

25 


26  THE  ENVIOUS  COYOTE 

shut  my  babies  up  tight  in  there  and  let  them  stay 
all   night.     Next   day  they  were   spotted,   as   you 


see." 


So  Mrs.  Coyote  found  a  lot  of  corn  cobs  and 
built  a  fire  with  them  in  her  den.  When  it  was 
full  of  smoke,  she  pushed  the  five  little  coyotes  in 
and  shut  the  door  tight. 

Mrs.  Deer  took  her  fawns  and  set  out  in  a  hurry 

for  the  deer's  house  on 
a  high  mountain  near 
Flagstaff;  for  she  knew 
what  would  happen  to 
the  little  coyotes  and 

how  angry  the  old  coy- 
Set  out  in  a  hurry  for  the  deer's  house 

ote  would  be.    She  also 

knew  that  Mrs.  Coyote  had  been  waiting  for  an 
excuse  to  eat  her  and  her  babies  up. 

On  their  way  the  deer  had  to  cross  a  river. 
When  they  reached  the  river,  the  old  turtle-man, 
who  always  ferried  people  across,  took  them  safely 
over  on  his  back.  "Turtle-man,  very  soon  a 
coyote  will  follow  us  and  ask  you  to  take  her 


THE  ENVIOUS  COYOTE  27 

across  the  river.  Please  keep  her  here  as  long  as 
you  can,  so  we  may  reach  the  deer's  house  before 
she  catches  us  and  eats  us  up." 


Old  turtle-man  took  them  safely  over 

The  next  morning  when  the  deer  had  almost 
reached  the  deer's  house,  old  Mrs.  Coyote  was 
back  at  her  den  opening  the  door  to  call  her  babies 
out.  When  the  door  opened,  the  smoke  blew  in  her 
face  so  thick  that  it  almost  blinded  her.  "Come 
out,  my  beautiful  spotted  babies!  We  will  eat  up 
those  spotted  fawns  some  day  and  then  you  will 
be  the  only  pretty  children  here." 

But  the  little  coyotes  did  not  come.  Mrs.  Coyote 
went  in  to  see  why  and  she  found  them  dead.  The 
smoke  had  smothered  them  to  death.  She  was  so 
angry  that  she  ran  as  fast  as  she  could,  following 
the  deer's  tracks  to  catch  them  and  eat  them  up. 


28  THE  ENVIOUS  COYOTE 

When  she  reached  the  river  the  old  turtle-man 
was  digging  in  the  ground  and  singing  a  song. 

"Hurry,  Old  Turtle-man,  and  take  me  across  the 
river;  for  I  have  no  time  to  waste  here!"  yelled  Mrs. 
Coyote.  But  the  old  turtle-man  kept  on  digging 
until  he  had  finished  his  song.  Then  he  took  the 
coyote  on  his  back  to  carry  her  across,  and  when 
they  reached  the  middle  of  the  river,  he  pretended 
to  cough  and  dropped  Mrs.  Coyote  off  his  back 
right  down  into  the  water.  When  she  climbed  up 
again  on  Turtle-man's  back  she  had  to  sneeze  the 
water  out  of  her  nose  and  lick  her  wet  fur;  so  it 
took  them  a  long  time  to  get  across  the  river. 

By  that  time  the  deer  were  all  safe  in  the  deer's 
house  with  other  deer;  and  the  only  door  to  the 
house,  as  you  perhaps  know,  was  a  hole  in  the  top. 

Mrs.  Coyote  ran  to  the  deer's  house;  climbed  up 
on  the  roof  and  yelled  down:  "Send  that  deer- 
woman  with  her  spotted  fawns  up  here!" 

"Come  down  and  get  them  if  you  want  them," 
answered  an  old  grandfather  deer  with  long  horns. 
And  then  he  stood  right  under  the  door. 


THE  ENVIOUS  COYOTE  29 

Down  leaped  Mrs.  Coyote  and  fell  right  on 
Granddaddy  Deer's  sharp  horns.  His  horns  made  a 
hole  in  her  side.  Granddaddy  Deer  threw  her 
onto  the  horns  of  another  deer;  he  threw  her  to 
another;  and  they  tossed  her  until  her  body  was 
all  cut  into  pieces  and  she  was  dead. 


MR.  "GET-EVEN"  COYOTE 

(Hopi,  2nd  Mesa) 

Just  at  the  foot  of  Second  Mesa,  long,  long  ago, 
lived  a  water  snake  in  a  mud  hole.  Not  far  away  a 
coyote  lived  at  "Coyote  Springs."  They  often 
passed  each  other  and  grew  very  friendly. 

"Come  over  to  see  me  sometime,  Snake-man," 
invited  the  coyote  one  day.  "Come  tomorrow  at 
noon  when  the  Indians  will  all  be  in  their  houses 
and  cannot  see  you." 

"With  pleasure,"  replied  the  snake.  So  next 
day  at  noon  the  snake  crawled  down  into  the 
coyote's  den.  His  tail  was  so  long  that  he  had  to 
coil  it  around  and  around  in  order  to  get  into  the 
den,  and  when  he  did  get  in  he  took  up  all  of  the 
room.  Mr.  Coyote  had  to  get  on  the  outside,  and 
they  talked  to  each  other  with  the  snake  in  the  nice 
warm  den  and  the  coyote  outside  in  the  cold.  Mr. 

Coyote  did  not  like  that  very  well,  you  may  be  sure. 

30 


MR.   "GET-EVEN"  COYOTE  31 

"You  must  come  to  see  me  tomorrow  at  noon," 
said  the  snake  as  he  left. 

Now  in  order  to  get  even  with  the  snake  and  to 


The  snake  visits  Mr.  Coyote 

push  him  out  of  his  hole,  as  the  snake,  because 
of  his  long  tail,  had  pushed  the  coyote  out,  Mr. 
Coyote  made  a  long  tail  of  ever-green  branches  and 
fastened  it  to  his  own  tail.  He  tied  it  with  a  hard 
knot  so  that  it  would  not  come  off.  At  noon  he 
went  to  return  the  snake's  call. 

Mr.  Snake  laughed  and  laughed  when  he  saw  Mr. 


32  MR.  "GET-EVEN"  COYOTE 

Coyote's  new  tail.  It  looked  so  funny  that  when 
Mr.  Coyote  started  home,  Mr.  Snake  decided  to 
play  a  joke  on  him.  He  slipped  his  flint  stones  out 
of  his  pocket  and  set  the  end  of  the  ever-green  tail 
on  fire.  The  boughs  began  to  crackle  and  make  a 
noise.  Mr.  Coyote  looked  around  to  see  what  was 
the  matter.  When  he  saw  that  his  long  tail  was  on 


His  long  tail  was  on  fire 

fire,  he  quickly  tried  to  untie  it  from  his  own  bushy 
tail;  but  the  knot  was  a  hard  knot.  He  was  so 
excited  he  could  not  untie  it.  Then  he  became  so 
frightened  that  he  began  to  run.  The  faster  he 
ran,  the  bigger  and  closer  the  fire  burned  behind 
him;  until  it  burned  all  the  way  up  to  his  bushy 
tail.  Then  his  tail  burned  off,  the  fur  on  his  body 
caught  fire  and  all  of  it  burned  off. 


BUNNY  COTTONTAIL  AND  THE  CRANE 

O-way-way-ham-by-yoh  a  mother  rabbit  and  her 
son  Bunny  Cottontail  lived  in  a  hole  in  Prairie- 
dog-town.  One  day  Bunny  Cottontail  slipped 
away  from  home  in  search  of  something  to  eat. 
He  hopped  away  across  the  hills,  and  across  a 
deep  arroyo.  An  arroyo  is  a  deep  dry  ditch  in  dry 
weather;  but  whenever  it  rains  the  water  rushes 
down  the  arroyo  and  makes  it  a  deep  river.  Now 
when  Bunny  Cottontail  hopped  across  the  arroyo  it 
was  dry;  but  after  he  got  across,  the  rain  fell  very 
hard  and  fast.  You  have  seen  how  hard  it  can 
rain,  sometimes,  and  how  fast  the  water  runs  down 
the  ditches.  Well  that  is  the  way  it  rained  when 
Bunny  Cottontail  hid  under  a  sage  brush  bush  to 
keep  himself  dry.  He  was  so  frightened,  that  as 
soon  as  the  rain  stopped  falling  he  started  back 
home  as  fast  as  he  could  run.  But  when  Bunny 
Cottontail  reached  the  arroyo  he  could  not  get 
across.  It  had  turned  into  a  big  river. 

33 


34  BUNNY  COTTONTAIL  AND  THE  CRANE 

Poor  Bunny  Cottontail  was  cold  and  hungry. 
He  wanted  to  go  home  to  his  mother.  He  was 
beginning  to  cry  when  a  crane  came  along.  The 
crane  was  walking  in  the  water  catching  fish.  He 
can  take  me  across,  thought  Bunny  Cottontail. 

"Good  afternoon,  Uncle  Crane,"  said  Bunny 
Cottontail,  "my  mother  was  talking  to  me  just 
yesterday  about  you.  She  says  you  are  my  uncle 
and  belong  to  our  tribe.  I  am  so  glad  to  meet 


The  crane  took  Bunny  Cottontail  on  his  back  and  crossed  the  river 

you.  Won't  you  please  take  me  across  the  water 
so  that  I  can  run  and  tell  my  mother  I  have  seen 
you?" 

Now  whenever  two  animals  belong  to  the  same 
tribe  they  have  to  help  each  other  when  either  one 


BUNNY  COTTONTAIL  AND  THE  CRANE  35 

gets  into  trouble.  If  the  crane  really  belonged  to 
Bunny  Cottontail's  tribe,  of  course  he  had  to 
take  him  across  the  arroyo.  So  the  crane  took 
Bunny  Cottontail  on  his  back  and  crossed  the 
water. 

When  they  got  across,  Bunny  Cottontail  jumped 
down  off  the  crane's  back,  ran  up  the  steep  little 
hill  and  called  back  to  the  crane: 

"You  are  not  my  uncle.  I  just  told  you  that  to 
get  a  ride  across  the  water." 

And  Bunny  Cottontail  ran  home  as  fast  as  he 
could  to  keep  the  crane  from  catching  him  and 
giving  him  the  spanking  he  deserved. 


THE  MAN-EATER 

(Hopi,  2nd  Mesa) 

Once  upon  a  time,  long,  long  ago,  Grandmother 
Spider  lived  in  a  little  Indian  village,  called  a 
Pueblo.  She  lived  with  her  two  little  grandsons, 
Po-kong-who-yer  (youth)  and  Pah-loong-ah-who-yer. 

Grandmother  Spider  was  friendly  with  the  fairies 
and  with  the  sun-god  and  with  the  moon-man  and 
all  of  the  animals.  She  used  to  talk  to  them  and 
they  helped  her  to  do  many  things.  She  did  so 
many  things,  which  the  other  Indians  did  not 
understand,  that  they  called  her  a  witch  and  drove 
her  with  her  two  little  grandsons  outside  of  the 
village.  Outside  she  built  a  little  mud  house  where 
she  and  her  little  grandsons  lived  happily;  for  the 
fairies  and  the  kind  old  Sun-God  brought  them  food 
to  eat. 

Soon    after    the    Indians    drove    Grandmother 

Spider  out  of  their  pueblo,  a  huge  Man-Eater  came 

36 


THE  MAN-EATER  37 

to  live  near  there.  Whenever  the  men  went  out  to 
hunt  game,  or  to  gather  wood;  and  whenever  the 
women  or  children  went  to  fill  their  jars  with 
water,  the  Man-Eater  caught  them  and  swallowed 
them  alive.  The  poor  Indians  began  to  cry  and  to 
sing  songs  while  they  beat  sad  music  on  their 


The  Indian  Chief  makes  presents  to  Grandmother 
Spider's  grandsons 

drums.  They  did  not  know  what  to  do!  If  they 
stayed  inside  the  pueblo  where  there  were  no  corn 
fields,  no  buffalo,  no  deer,  no  rabbits  and  no 
squashes,  they  would  surely  starve  to  death;  and 


462017 


38  THE  MAN-EATER 

if  they  went  outside  the  village  the  Man-Eater 
would  swallow  them  alive. 

One  day  the  Indian  chief  remembered  what 
wonderful  things  Grandmother  Spider  used  to  do 
before  the  Indians  drove  her  from  the  pueblo;  so  he 
decided  to  take  presents  to  her  to  see  if  she  could 
not  help  them  out  of  their  trouble,  and  drive  the 
Man-Eater  away.  The  next  day  he  made  a  ball  and 
two  little  bows  and  arrows.  He  took  them  out  to 
Po-kong-who-yer  and  Pah-loong-ah-who-yer. 

When  old  Grandmother  Spider  saw  the  arrows, 
she  was  pleased  and  she  asked  the  kind  fairies  to 
rub  magic  on  them,  so  that  the  arrows  might  kill 
all  things  that  harmed  her  little  boys. 

That  same  afternoon  Po-kong-who-yer  and  Pah- 
loong-ah-who-yer,  with  their  bows  and  arrows  slung 
over  their  shoulders,  were  playing  with  their  ball 
outside  their  mud-house.  One  of  them  threw  the 
ball  too  high  for  the  other  to  catch  and  it  bounced 
away  off  over  the  prairie.  They  both  ran  after 
it  as  fast  as  they  could.  Each  one  was  trying 
to  see  who  could  get  the  ball  first.  They  did 


ft. 


Po-kong-who-yer  and  Pah-loong- 
ah-who-yer  stopped  running  and 
turned  around. 


THE  MAN-EATER  39 

not  know  until  too  late  that  they  were  running 
right  up  to  the  spot  where  the  Man-Eater  was. 
They  stopped  running  and  turned  around,  but  before 
they  could  get  away,  the  Man-Eater  opened  his  big 
mouth  and  swallowed  them  down.  And  down  there 
in  the  Man-Eater's  stomach  they  found  all  the  other 
people  he  had  swallowed  still  living  and  crying  to 
get  out. 

Po-kong-who-yer  and  Pah-loong-ah-who-yer  drew 
their  bows  and  shot  their  magic  arrows  right 
through  the  Man-Eater's  heart.  The  Man-Eater 
opened  his  mouth  and  yelled,  just  like  thunder, 
and  then  he  fell  over  dead. 

Po-kong-who-yer  and  Pah-loong-ah-who-yer  and 
all  of  the  people  inside  him  came  out  and  returned 
to  their  homes. 

All  that  night  the  Indians  beat  their  drums  fast 
and  danced  and  sang  their  happiest  songs,  for  the 
old  Man-Eater  was  dead  and  could  not  trouble 
them  any  more. 


THE  FOX  THAT  FLEW 

(Seama,  a  Laguna  Pueblo) 

One    bright    sunny    morning,    some    quails    were 
busily   grinding   corn   and   singing  when   Mr.    Fox 


Yah  -  ah  -  m6    rooh  -  rooh,         Yah  -  ah  -  m6     rooh  -  rooh, 
Up     and  down,  we       go  —         Up     and  down,  we      go  — 

ffij     J     T~H       i    J=t3=F=^rtir  ^g 

«J  ~~c'     $3-  '    R-*-  BIT     -=#•  B-W     -z=«- 

She  -  ee  -    it  -  soot,  .  sin  -  soot         en  -  y  eh  en  •  yeh. 

Our  corn    we  grind,  ire  grind        for  food,  for  food. 

came  along.  What  a  delicious  dinner  those  quails 
will  make,  thought  Mr.  Fox. 

"Good  morning,  Misses  Quail,"  said  he,  "what 
a  fine  occupation  for  so  pleasant  a  morning.  May 
I  grind  with  you?" 

"Certainly,  Mr.  Fox,"  replied  the  quails,  "if 
you  have  any  corn  to  grind." 

"I  shall  find  some,"  and  Mr.  Fox  trotted  away 

in  search  of  corn.     But  he  could  not  find  any  any- 

40 


THE  FOX  THAT  FLEW  41 

where.    He  had  to  gather  a  basket  of  cedar  berries 
instead. 

While  he  was  gone  the  quails  decided  to  play  a 
prank  on  him,  so  they  put  some  branches  across 


He  fell  and  spilled  all  his  cedar  berries 

his  path.  Mr.  Fox  did  not  see  the  branches,  of 
course,  so  he  tripped,  and  down  he  fell  and  spilled 
all  of  his  cedar  berries.  The  quails  laughed  at 
him  and  began  to  eat  the  berries. 

"Stop!"  cried  Mr.  Fox,  "you  cannot  have  my 
berries;  but  if  you  will  help  me  pick  them  up,  I 
will  give  one  to  each  of  you." 

So  the  quails  helped  him  to  pick  up  the  berries 
and  he  ground  them  into  meal. 

"It  is  time  now  to  bake  our  corn  cakes,"  said 
the  quails,  and  they  baked  and  ate  their  cakes. 


42  THE  FOX  THAT  FLEW 

"I  am  thirsty,"  said  one,  let  us  all  fly  up  to 
the  lake  on  the  mountain  top  for  a  drink. " 

"I  cannot  fly,"  moaned  Mr.  Fox,  "please  do  not 
leave  me." 

"I  tell  you  what  we  will  do,"  suggested  one  of 
the  quails,  "we  will  each  lend  a  feather  to  make 
wings  for  Mr.  Fox,  so  that  he  may  fly  with  us. 

Thereupon  each   quail  lent   a   feather   and   soon 


Mr.  Fox  was  fitted  with  wings 

Mr.  Fox  was  fitted  with  wings.  He  did  not  know 
just  how  to  manage  them.  Indeed  he  was  as 
clumsy  as  could  be;  but  he  flipped  and  flopped 
until  he  finally  reached  the  steep  mountain  top  as 
soon  as  any  of  the  quails.  For  the  quails  were 


THE  FOX  THAT  FLEW  43 

laughing  so  hard  over  Mr.  Fox's  ridiculous  efforts, 
that  they  could  scarcely  fly  themselves. 

After  they  had  all  had  a  drink  from  the  lake,  the 
quails  took  their  feathers  away  from  Mr.  Fox  and 
pushed  him  down  the  mountain  side.  He  fell  on 
the  rocks  far  below  and  broke  his  leg.  He  went 
about  limping  the  rest  of  his  life  and  never  tried  to 
catch  another  quail. 


A  WAR  BETWEEN  THE  BIRDS  AND  THE 
ANIMALS 

(Seama,  a  Laguna  Pueblo) 

Once  upon  a  time  all  the  animals  declared  war 
upon  the  birds  Each  held  a  council  of  war  to 
talk  over  what  they  should  do. 

A  tiny  black  ant  slipped  into  the  animals'  council 


Then  the  birds  all  flew  away  to  fight  the  animals 

and  listened  to  their  plans;     then  he  went  to  the 
birds  and  told  them: 

"The  fox  is  to  be  war-chief  of  the  animals  and 
his  tail  is  to  be  their  signal.  As  long  as  the  fox 
holds  his  tail  up,  the  animals  are  to  go  ahead  and 

44 


BIRD  AND  ANIMAL  WAR  45 

fight;  but  as  soon  as  the  fox  drops  his  tail  down, 
the  animals  are  to  run  away." 

The  eagle  was  war-chief  of  the  birds,  so  he  sent 
a  messenger  to  bring  in  the  bee  to  their  council. 

"Mrs.   Bee,"   said  the  eagle,   "please  sting  the 


Mrs.  Bee  lit  on  his  tail  and  began  to  sting  it 

fox's  tail  for  us  so  that  we  may  win  this  war." 
Then  the  birds  all  flew  away  to  meet  and  fight  the 
animals.     The  little  bee  went  and  found  the  fox. 
The  fox  was  leading  the  animals  with  his  tail  held  up 
high.     Mrs.  Bee  lit  on  his  tail  and  began  to  sting  it. 
She    kept    stinging    and    stinging    until    the    fox 
could   stand    it   no   longer.     He   dropped    his   tail 
down  and  ran  away  with  all  of  the  animals  follow- 
ing him.    And  the  birds  won  the  war. 


THE  FOX  AND  THE  LIZARD 

Down  near  the  Indian  village  of  Laguna,  there 
is  a  big  sandstone  rock  over-hanging  the  roadside. 
Once  upon  a  time  a  little  lizard  lived  on  the  sunny 
side  of  this  big  rock.  She  was  a  happy  little  lizard 
and  sang  songs  all  day  long. 

One  day  a  fox  was  going  along  the  road  and  he 
heard  the  lizard  singing: 


J-  J 


Mo-ki,mo-ki,  mo-o-ki.  Mo-ki,mo-ki,  mo-o-ki.  Yow-nei  ku-chinnei 
Tra  -  la  tra-la  -  tra-a  -  la.  Tra-la,tra-  la,  tra-a-  la.  Hanging  rock  is  here. 

*7  T?     T? 

Yow  -  nei  ku-chin-nei      I  -  sin-nub  dal  -  la  -  ma.    Unhum  unhum. 
Hang- ing  rock  is  here     A  hap  -  py  home  for  me.    Unhum  unhum. 

Now  everything  nice  or  pretty  that  anybody 
else  has,  the  fox  immediately  wants,  so  he  wanted 
the  lizard's  song.  "I  must  get  the  lizard  to  teach 
me  that  song,"  so  up  on  the  rock  he  jumped  to 
find  the  little  lizard. 

"Good  morning,  my  friend,"  said  the  fox,  "this 

46 


THE  FOX  AND  THE  LIZARD  47 

is  a  beautiful  day,  and  your  song  sounded  so  fine 
that  I  wish  you  would  teach  it  to  me." 

"With  pleasure,"  replied  the  obliging  lizard  and 
she  sang  the  song  over  and  over  until  the  fox  said 
he  knew  it. 

"Thank   you    my    friend,"    said   he,    "and   now 


Good  morning  my  friend,"  said  the  fox 


good-day,  for  I  must  be  off  to  hunt  my  dinner," 
and  away  he  trotted  down  the  road  singing  as  he 
went,  "Mo-ki,  mo-ki,  mo-ki — . " 
He  came  to  a  small  pond  where  a  flock  of  wild 


48  THE  FOX  AND  THE  LIZARD 

ducks  were  feeding  on  the  grass  seeds.  He  did  not 
see  the  ducks,  but  they  saw  him  and  they  flew 
up  suddenly  out  of  the  water  flapping  their  wings 
and  quacking.  The  noise  frightened  the  fox  so 
much  that  he  forgot  his  song.  Try  as  hard  as  he 
might,  he  could  remember  only  the  first  part. 

He  went  running  back  to  the  lizard's  house  on 
the  big  rock.  "My  friend,  I  have  forgotten  the 
song  you  taught  me;  won't  you  please  sing  it  again 
forme?" 

The  little  lizard  sang  it  again  and  once  more  the 
fox  trotted  down  the  road  singing: 

"Mo-ki  mo-ki  mo-o-ki, 

Mo-ki  mo-ki  mo-o-ki, 

Hanging  rock  is  here.  Hanging  rock  is  here.  A 
happy  home  for  me. 

Unhum  unhum." 

But  he  had  not  gone  very  far  before  a  rabbit 
suddenly  jumped  across  his  path  from  behind  a 
bush.  The  rabbit  startled  him  so  that  again  he 
forgot  the  song  he  was  singing. 

So  a  third  time  the  fox  went  to  find  the  lizard. 


THE  FOX  AND  THE  LIZARD  49 

This  time  he  found  her  asleep  in  the  warm  sun- 
shine. "I  am  sorry  to  disturb  you,  Miss  Lizard, 
but  I  have  forgotten  my  song  again  and  I  want 
you  to  teach  it  to  me  once  more." 

But  the  sleepy  little  lizard  did  not  answer. 

"I  will  ask  you  four  times  to  sing,"  growled  the 
fox,  "and  if  you  do  not  sing,  I  will  eat  you  up." 

The  little  lizard  kept  her  eyes  closed  and  paid 
no  attention  to  him.  The  fox  asked  her  four 
times  to  sing,  and  then  he  opened  his  big  mouth  and 
swallowed  her  down. 

The  warm  sun  on  the  rock  made  the  fox  sleepy 
too,  so  he  lay  down  and  went  to  sleep.  While  he 
was  sleeping,  the  little  lizard  took  a  knife  out  of  a 
pocket  in  her  skin,  with  which  she  removes  her  old 
skin  for  a  new  skin  dress  each  year,  and  she  cut 
and  cut  the  fox's  side  until  she  cut  a  hole  big 
enough  to  slip  out  through.  Then  she  took  a  sharp 
rock  and  put  it  inside  the  fox  where  she  had  been. 
After  that  she  took  a  piece  of  sinew  thread  from 
her  pocket  and  sewed  the  fox's  side  together  again. 
Then  she  ran  quietly  home. 


50  THE  FOX  AND  THE  LIZARD 

All  this  time  the  fox  was  fast  asleep.  When  he 
awoke  he  felt  thirsty,  so  he  trotted  back  to  the 
little  pond  for  a  drink.  The  stone  in  his  side  cut 


He  fell  into  the  deep  water  and  drowned 

and  felt  very  uncomfortable;  and  when  he  leaned 
down  to  drink,  it  overbalanced  him  and  he  fell, 
splash,  down  into  the  deep  water  and  drowned. 


THE  ROBIN  AND  THE  BEAR 

(Taos  Pueblo.} 

One  winter,  a  long  time  ago,  an  Indian  village 
called  Taos  was  all  covered  with  deep,  deep  snow. 
The  Indians  could  not  find  any  flint  stones  to  make 
a  fire  with.  They  shut  themselves  up  in  their 
houses  and  were  almost  freezing  to  death;  when 
one  day  a  little  brown  robin  with  a  brown  breast 
came  flying  over  the  village.  He  was  so  cold 
that  he  fell  in  the  plaza.  The  plaza  is  a  big 
square  place  in  the  center  of  the  village,  where 
there  are  not  any  houses  nor  any  trees. 

A  bear  came  along.  "Pretty  soon  the  Indians 
will  all  die  from  the  cold  and  I'll  be  ruler  of  all  this 
country,"  said  the  bear. 

"Not  if  I  can  help  it,"  replied  the  robin.  "I 
will  save  the  Indians  even  if  it  takes  my  life." 

So  the  little  robin  flew  away  to  the  south.  He 
found  another  Indian  village  where  they  had  a  big 


52  THE  ROBIN  AND  THE  BEAR 

fire  burning  in  the  plaza.  The  robin  picked  up  a 
piece  of  burning  stick  and  flew  back  to  Taos  with 
it.  He  guarded  the  little  flame  from  the  wind  by 
stretching  his  wing  over  it.  When  he  reached  Taos, 
he  scratched  a  hole  in  the  snow  with  his  feet,  and 
put  the  burning  stick  into  the  hole.  Then  he  flew 
away  and  brought  some  twigs  to  put  on  it.  Very 


The  bear  came  and  blew  his  breath  on  the  fire 

soon  the  twigs  began  to  burn  and  Robin  flew  away 
for  more.  While  he  was  gone  the  bear  came  and 
blew  his  breath  on  the  fire.  He  wanted  to  put  it 
out  so  the  Indians  would  freeze.  And  the  fire  did 
go  out  all  but  a  few  little  sparks. 

When   Robin    came  with   the   twigs    he   had   to 
fan  the   sparks   with   his   wings   to   make   the  fire 


THE  ROBIN  AND  THE  BEAR  53 

burn  again.  "Burn,  fire,  burn  for  the  freezing 
Indians!" 

The  fire  burned  and  Robin  flew  away  for  more 
twigs. 

As  soon  as  Robin  left,  the  bear  came  and  blew 
his  breath  twice  on  the  fire.  The  fire  almost  went 
out  again,  and  when  Robin  came  back,  he  had  to 


»« 

m 

But  Robin  kept  fanning  the  flame  with  his  wing 

fan  and  fan  and  fan  it  with  his  wing  to  make  the 
little  twigs  catch  fire  and  burn. 

The  third  time  Robin  flew  away  for  more  twigs, 
the  bear  came  and  blew  his  breath  three  times  on 
the  fire.  This  time  the  fire  all  went  out  except  just 
one  very  tiny  little  spark;  and  the  bear  said,  "Now 
I'll  be  ruler  of  this  country. " 


54  THE  ROBIN  AND  THE  BEAR 

But  when  the  robin  came  back  with  his  twigs, 
he  fanned  and  fanned  that  little  spark  with  his 
wings.  For  a  long  time  the  little  spark  would  not 
blaze.  But  Robin  kept  fanning  and  begging, 
"Please,  fire,  burn  for  the  Indians."  All  the  time 
he  was  fanning,  the  fire  was  burning  his  breast; 
but  he  kept  on  fanning  until  the  fire  did  burn,  and 
burned  too  big  for  the  bear  to  blow  out. 

The  Indians  saw  a  red  light  through  their  peep- 
hole windows.  They  looked  out  and  saw  the  fire 
with  Robin  still  fanning  it  with  his  wing.  Then  the 
freezing  Indians  all  ran  out;  each  took  a  piece  of 
burning  wood  into  his  house  and  made  a  nice  warm 
fire  inside. 

Nobody  thought  of  Robin — poor  little  tired 
Robin —  except  an  old,  old  woman,  who  was  tired, 
too.  She  picked  up  the  tired  little  bird  and  carried 
him  into  her  house.  She  put  him  by  her  fire  to 
warm  him;  but  it  was  too  late.  Tired  little  Robin 
was  dead.  The  old  woman  picked  him  up  and 
found  that  his  breast  had  burned  red.  And  since 
that  time  all  the  robins'  breasts  are  red. 


WHITE  CORN  AND  HER  SONS  FIRE 

(San  Juan  Pueblo) 

O-way-way-ham-by-hoh,  old  man  Shrivelled  Corn 
had  a  beautiful  daughter  named  White  Corn. 
White  Corn  was  a  widow  with  two  sons  both 
named  Fire.  They  all  lived  together  at  San  Juan. 

Now  Faint  Star  lived  up  in  the  sky,  and  was  in 
love  with  the  beautiful  White  Corn.  Every  night 
Faint  Star  came  to  beg  White  Corn  to  go  up  and 
live  with  him  and  be  Mrs.  Faint  Star. 

The  Sun  was  in  love  with  White  Corn  too,  so 
every  day  he  came  to  her  house  to  beg  her  to  be 
Mrs.  Sun. 

But  White  Corn  loved  her  old  father  and  her  little 
sons  Fire,  so  she  would  not  go  with  either  of  them. 

Faint  Star  grew  tired  of  begging,  so  one  night  he 
slipped  down  to  old  man  Shrivelled  Corn's  house 
and  stole  White  Corn  away.  He  took  her  away  up 

to  his  house  in  the  sky. 

55 


56      WHITE  CORN  AND  HER  SONS  FIRE 

When  the  Sun  came  next  day,  he  found  that 
White  Corn  had  been  taken  away.  "In  four  days 
I'll  meet  that  star,"  said  the  Sun,  "and  take 
White  Corn  away  to  live  with  me." 

Sure  enough  in  four  days^  the  Sun  took  his  peace 
pipe  with  some  strong  tobacco  and  went  to  Faint 

Star's  house.  Faint  Star  said 
good-morning  to  the  Sun  and 
invited  him  to  sit  down  and 
tell  what  the  Sun  had  come  to  see  him  about. 
They  sat  down  and  the  Sun  took  out  his  peace 
pipe  and  filled  it  with  the  strong  tobacco.  He 
was  accustomed  to  that  strong  tobacco,  so  when 
he  took  a  puff  on  the  peace  pipe,  it  did  not  hurt 
him  at  all.  He  passed  the  pipe  to  Faint 
Star  for  him  to  have  his  turn  at  a  smoke. 
But  when  Faint  Star  drew  a  puff  of  the 
strong  tobacco  smoke  he  fell  over  dead. 
Then  the  Sun  caught  up  White  Corn  in 
his  arms  and  carried  her  away  to  his  house. 

The  two  little  Fire  boys  grew  to  be  big  boys  and 
all  the  time  they  were  wondering  how  they  could 


WHITE  CORN  AND  HER  SONS  FIRE      57 

ever  get  their  beautiful  mother  back  again.  They 
knew  that  the  Sun  had  stolen  her  to  live  in  his 
house;  but  they  did  not  know  how  they  could 
reach  the  Sun's  house  to  get  her  away.  Now  that 
they  were  big  the  Fire  boys  decided  to  try  to  get  to 
their  mother  anyway.  So  they  went  East  and 
climbed  over  the  highest  mountain  they  could  find, 
looking  for  a  path  to  the  Sun.  While  they  were  on 
top  of  the  high  mountain  they  saw  a  tiny  line  of 
smoke  coming  from  the  valley 
below  them.  They  ran  down 
to  see  from  whence  that  smoke 
came.  What  do  you  think  they  Grandmother  Spider  c  ~k_ 
found?  Why,  old  Grandmother  ing  her  dinner 

Spider  cooking  her  dinner  of  corn  meal  mush. 
Her  fire  was  made  of  tiny  straws  and  her  pot  was 
no  bigger  than  your  thimble;  but  she  invited  the 
Fire  boys  to  sit  down  and  share  her  dinner  with 
her.  The  Fire  boys  laughed: 

"All  of  your  dinner,  Grandmother  Spider,  would 
not  even  be  a  taste  for  one  of  us!" 

"Never    mind,"    replied    Grandmother    Spider," 


58      WHITE  CORN  AND  HER  SONS  FIRE 

you  are  tired  and  hungry  from  your  long  journey 
and  I  bid  you  eat." 

Just  for  fun  the  Fire  boys  dipped  their  fingers 
into  the  mush  to  taste  it.  It  was  delicious  and  as 
fast  as  the}''  ate  it,  more  mush  came  into  the  little 
pot.  They  ate  and  ate  until  they  had  a  plenty; 
and  when  they  finished,  the  little  thimble-pot  was 
still  full  of  mush. 

"Now,"  said  Grandmother  Spider,"  you  are 
ready  to  continue  your  journey  and  I  will  help 
you  get  your  mother  White  Corn  back  from  the 
Sun." 

She  took  from  her  pocket  a  long  peace  pipe,  a 
buckskin  bag  of  tobacco  and  a  little  bag  of  medi- 
cine. 

"Take  these  with  you,  Fire  boys,  and  when  you 
reach  the  Sun's  house,  fill  the  pipe  with  tobacco  and 
smoke  it.  But  when  you  pass  the  pipe  to  the  Sun 
for  his  turn  to  smoke,  drop  this  medicine  into  the 
pipe  quickly.  Now  shut  your  eyes  tight  and  do 
not  open  them  until  you  hear  the  Sun  speak  to 
you." 


WHITE  CORN  AND  HER  SONS  FIRE      59 

The  boys  took  the  pipe,  the  tobacco  and  the 
medicine  and  then  shut  their  eyes  as  Grandmother 
Spider  had  told  them.  Then  Grandmother  Spider 
spun  a  web  all  the  way  up  to  the  Sun's  house. 
She  took  the  Fire  boys  up  on  the 
web  and  set  them  down  at  the 
Sun's  door. 

"Good-morning,  Strangers,"  said 
the  Sun,  "what  do  you  wish  af  my 
house?" 

The  Fire  boys  opened  their  eyes. 

"Let  us  smoke  together,"  replied 
the  Fire  boys,"  "while  we  tell  you 
our  errand. " 

So  they  all  sat  down  to  smoke.  The  Fire  boys 
took  out  the  pipe  that  Grandmother  Spider  had 
given  them  and  filled  it  with  tobacco.  Then  each 
of  them  drew  a  long  puff  from  the  pipe;  but  when 
they  passed  it  to  the  Sun,  they  dropped  in  the 
medicine,  just  as  Grandmother  Spider  had  told 
them  to  do.  The  Sun  drew  a  puff  from  the  pipe 
and  immediately  he  fell  back  fast  asleep.  All  the 


She  took  the  Fire  boys 
up  on  the  web 


60      WHITE  CORN  AND  HER  SONS  FIRE  4 

earth  and  everywhere  grew  dark.  The  Fire  boys 
grabbed  White  Corn  from  the  Sun's  house  and  ran 
outside.  Grandmother  Spider  was  there  waiting. 

"Shut  your  eyes  quick,  boys." 

The  Fire  boys  shut  their  eyes  and  when  they 
opened  them  again  they  were  safely  back  in  old 
man  Shrivelled  Corn's  house  with  their  beautiful 
mother  White  Corn  and  the  Sun  was  shining  out- 
side once  more. 


THE  PINE-GUM  BABY 

(Taos  Pueblo) 

A  long  time  ago  a  beautiful  river,  that  ran 
through  the  Indian  village  of  Taos,  went  dry;  for 
no  rain  had  fallen  for  months  and  months  and 
months.  There  was  no  water  anywhere  to  drink, 
except  in  one  little  spring;  and  that  little  spring 
belonged  to  a  coyote. 

One  morning  a  rabbit  passed  by  the  coyote's 
spring.  "Good-morning,  Rabbit-man,"  said  the 
coyote,  "how  are  you  getting  along  this  dry 
weather?  You  must  get  very  thirsty." 

"Oh  no,"  replied  the  rabbit,  "I  get  along  fine. 
I  have  plenty  of  water,  for  I  drink  the  dew  from 
the  cabbage  leaves." 

"But  suppose  the  drought  takes  all  the  dew 
from  the  cabbage  leaves,  then  what  will  you  do?" 

"I  will  find  water  somewhere  else,"  replied  the 
rabbit;  and  he  hopped  away. 

Still  there  was  no  rain  and  everything  was  as 

61 


62  THE  PINE-GUM  BABY 

dry  as  could  be,  except  the  coyote's  spring.  The 
rabbit  grew  very  thirsty;  so  four  days  later  when 
the  coyote  was  away  from  home,  the  rabbit  went 
to  the  coyote's  spring  and  drank  and  drank  the 
water.  Later  in  the  day  the  coyote  met  him: 
"Good  day,  Rabbit-man,  how  are  you  enjoying 
the  dew  from  the  cabbage  leaves  these  days? 
Are  you  finding  very  much?"  And  the  coyote 
threw  back  his  head  and  laughed. 

"Oh,  I  am  finding  enough!",  and  again  the  rab- 
bit hopped  away. 

The  next  day  the  rabbit  waited  until  the  coyote 
went  out  to  hunt  for  his  dinner,  then  he  went  to 
the  spring  and  drank  and  drank. 

When  the  coyote  came  back  home,  he  went  to 
his  spring  for  a  drink.  There  was  very  little 
water  left  in  it.  "Who  has  been  taking  my  water?", 
he  growled.  And  then  he  saw  rabbit  tracks  around 
the  spring. 

"So  Rabbit-man  has  been  stealing  my  water! 
That  is  why  he  is  getting  along  so  well  this  dry 
weather.  I  shall  have  to  put  an  end  to  him." 


THE  PINE-GUM  BABY  63 

So  the  coyote  went  out  and  found  a  piece  of 
wood  and  cut  out  of  it  a  baby  animal.  Then  he 
got  gum  from  the  pinon  trees  and  smeared  it  all 
over  the  baby.  He  put  the  gum  baby  beside  the 
spring  and  hid  himself  in  the  bushes. 


He  grabbed  the  gum  baby  and  pushed  him  into  the  water 

Very  soon  the  rabbit  came  along  for  a  drink  at 
the  coyote's  spring.  When  he  saw  the  gum  baby, 
he  bowed  and  said,  "Hello,  what  are  you  doing 
here?"  But  the  gum  baby  just  sat  still  and  said 
nothing.  This  made  Mr.  Rabbit  angry. 

"I  say  'hello',  and  if  you  don't  speak  to  me 
politely  I'll  push  you  into  the  spring." 


64  THE  PINE-GUM  BABY 

The  gum  baby  did  not  say  anything.  Mr. 
Rabbit  grew  so  angry  that  he  grabbed  the  gum 
baby  and  pushed  him  into  the  water. 

But  the  gum  on  the  baby  made  the  rabbit  stick 
hard  and  fast  to  him;  and  when  he  fell  into  the 
spring,  Mr.  Rabbit  fell  in,  too,  and  got  a  good 
ducking  that  he  did  not  soon  forget. 


THE  FOX  AND  THE  INDIANS 
(San  Juan  Pueblo) 

O-way-way-ham-by-yoh,  a  fox,  was  living  near  an 
Indian  village  when  the  chief  of  the  Indians  died. 

"Now  I  shall  be  chief  of  those  people,"  said  the 
fox;  so  he  went  to  the  village  and  called  a  council 
of  all  the  Indians.  A  council 
means  a  meeting  of  people  in  a 
house;  and  the  Indians'  meet- 
ing house  is  the  kiva.  So  when 
all  the  Indians  came  into  the 
kiva,  the  fox  said  to  them,  "I 
am  going  to  be  your  new  chief." 
The  Indians  talked  it  over  and 
said  all  right.  But  when  the  fox  left  the  council, 
the  Indians  changed  their  minds  and  decided  that 
they  did  not  want  the  fox  to  be  their  chief. 

They  sent  a  messenger  to  the  fox  and  told  him 
that   he   could   not   be   their   chief,    for    they   had 

changed  their  minds  about  it. 

6s 


1 1  am  going  to  be  your 
new  chief" 


66  THE  FOX  AND  THE  INDIANS 

The  fox  was  sorry  to  hear  the  message,  but  he 
was  determined  to  be  chief  of  the  Indians. 

So  the  fox  went  out  and  gathered  sunflower 
stalks.  He  took  them  to  his  den  and  began  making 
flutes  out  of  them.  He  blew  on  each  flute  that 
he  made;  and  he  kept  throwing  them  away  and 

throwing  them  away, 
because  he  did  not 
like  the  tone  of  them. 
At  last  he  made  one 
that  he  liked,  for  it 
had  a  beautiful  soft 
tone.  He  put  it  care- 
fully away  in  his  den. 
Then  he  went  to  the 
Indian  village  and 
told  the  Indians,  "If  I  am  not  made  your  chief  in 
four  days,  the  water  from  the  lake  will  come  up 
and  drown  you." 

The  Indians  did  not  believe  what  the  fox  said. 
They  held  another  council  in  the  kiva,  and  again  sent 
word  to  the  fox  that  he  could  not  be  their  chief. 


It  was  the  fox  playing 


THE  FOX  AND  THE  INDIANS  67 

The  fox  then  set  to  work  and  dug  a  tunnel — a 
long  hole  under  the  ground — almost  to  the  edge  of 
the  lake.  He  took  his  flute — the  sweet-toned  one 
he  had  made  from  the  sunflower  stalk — and  went 
into  the  tunnel.  There  was  just  a  little  bit  of 
ground  between  him  and  the  water  in  the  lake. 

Early  the  next  morning  an  Indian  went  to  the 
lake  to  get  a  jar  of  water.  He  heard  a  flute  song 
coming  out  of  the  lake.  It  was  the  fox  playing,  but 
the  Indian  thought  it  was  the  water-god  playing 
this  tune: 

Slowly 


s 

^1            ^,     »,      ^JL, 

L.-i  —  | 

TJ»  — 

^  J  .?. 

-t  





The  Indian  ran  back  to  the  village  and  told  the 
other  Indians  what  he  had  heard;  but  they  did  not 
believe  him. 

The  next  morning  another  Indian  went  to  the 
lake  for  water.  He  heard  the  fox  playing  on  his 
flute  in  the  tunnel.  Again  it  sounded  as  if  the 
water-god  were  playing  in  the  lake.  This  Indian 


68  THE  FOX  AND  THE  INDIANS 

went  back  and  told  all  the  Indians  what  he  had 
heard;  but  still  they  did  not  believe  it  was  true. 

But  on  the  third  morning,  the  two  Indians  who 
had  heard  the  music  by  the  lake  asked  many  of  the 
Indians  to  go  down  to  the  lake  with  them  to  listen 
for  the  water-god's  music.  The  Indians  went  down 
and  they  heard  the  fox  playing  again.  They  all 
believed  it  was  the  water-god;  so  when  they  got 
back  to  the  village,  they  called  a  council.  They 
told  all  of  the  Indians: 

"We  have  heard  the  music  of  the  water-god. 
The  fox  told  us  that  if  he  were  not  made  our  chief 
in  four  days,  the  water  would  come  up  out  of  the 
lake  and  drown  us.  The  water-god  is  playing  his 
flute.  What  the  fox  said  must  be  true.  The  fox 
must  be  made  our  chief  before  tomorrow." 

All  the  Indians  agreed.  They  sent  a  messenger 
to  the  fox  and  told  him  to  come  and  be  chief.  But 
the  fox  pretended  he  did  not  want  to  come.  He 
wanted  all  of  the  Indians  to  come  together  to  his 
den  to  invite  him  to  be  their  chief. 

That  night  the  fox  broke  the  ground  away  at  the 


THE  FOX  AND  THE  INDIANS  69 

end  of  the  tunnel,  right  next  to  the  lake,  so  that 
the  water  could  run  into  the  tunnel. 

When  the  Indians  awoke  the  next  morning,  they 
heard  the  water  rushing  under  the  ground  near 
them.  They  thought  the  water  from  the  lake  was 
coming  to  drown  them;  for  it  was  the  fourth  day 
and  the  fox  had  not  been  made  their  chief.  They 
all  ran  down  to  the  fox's  den  just  as  fast  as  they 
could.  They  begged  him,  "Oh,  please,  Mr.  Fox, 
come  and  be  our  chief,  so  that  we  may  not  be 
drowned ! " 

"If  you  are  quite  sure  that  you  want  me  for  your 
chief,  I'll  come,"  replied  the  fox. 

"Oh,  we  are  quite  sure,  quite  sure,  Mr.  Fox!" 

That  was  just  what  the  fox  wanted;  so  he  went 
to  the  village  with  the  Indians  and  they  made  him 
their  chief  and  he  ruled  long  and  well  and  wisely. 


THE  COYOTE  AND  THE  BLACKBIRDS 

(San  Ildefonso  Pueblo) 

A  party  of  red-winged  blackbirds  were  frolicking 
on  the  ice  one  winter  day.  They  were  laughing, 
skating  and  singing  and  having  the  gayest  time. 

"Upon  the  ice  we  jump  and  skate. 
It  crackles  under  all  our  weight. 
Our  red  shoulders  shine  and  glow. 
And  now  together  away  we  go. 
Ong-yes-suhru. " 


O  -  ye  -kay-wa-bah.  Pung-sah-sah.  Pung-sah-sah  Yah-gee-woo-nang- 
Up  -  on     the  ice  we  jump  and  skate,  jump  and  skate.Our  red  shoulders 


gah-koo  -  woo    Pi  -  yer-mong  Pi  -  yer-mong  ong  -  yes  -  suh  -  ru. 
so  pret  -  ty,      Shin    -    ing,  glow     -     ing    now       off       we     go. 

And  across  the  ice  they  skated  together  when  they 
sang  ong-yes-suhru. 

Mr.    Coyote  heard   their  singing,   so   he   trotted 

over  to  the  ice. 

70 


Mr.  Coyote  dashed  out  on  the  ice 
beside  the  blackbirds. 


THE  COYOTE  AND  THE  BLACKBIRDS     71 

"Let  me  skate  with  you,  Blackbirds,"  he  said. 

"Oh,  no  one  can  skate  with  us  who  hasn't  red 
shoulders,"  they  answered.  "You  will  have  to  get  a 
sharp  stone  and  cut  your  shoulders  so  that  the  blood 
will  make  them  red,  before  you  can  skate  with  us." 

So  Mr.  Coyote  took  a 
sharp  stone  and  gashed 
both  of  his  shoulders 
until  the  blood  ran  out 
and  stained  them  red. 

"Now    I    have   pretty 


The  blackbirds  flew  away 


red  shoulders,  too.     Now 
I  can  skate  with  you. " 

"Oh  no,  not  unless  you  can  sing  our  song,"  they  said. 

Mr.  Coyote  tried  to  sing  in  his  big  deep  voice; 
and  dashed  out  on  the  ice  beside  the  blackbirds. 

The  blackbirds  flew  away.  They  knew  that 
Mr.  Coyote  only  wanted  to  catch  them  to  eat  them 
up.  And  Mr.  Coyote  was  so  angry  when  they 
flew  away,  that  he  ran  along  the  ice  clawing  at  the 
blackbirds'  shadows,  until  his  feet  were  torn  and 
bleeding  and  he  had  to  give  up  the  chase. 


PAH-TAY  AND  THE  WIND-WITCH 

(San  Juan  Pueblo) 

Pah-tay  was  a  little  Indian  boy  who  lived  long, 
long,  long  ago.  One  night  when  he  was  going  to 
bed  on  his  pile  of  pretty  red  and  yellow  blankets, 
he  said  to  his  mother: 

"Ye-ah,  it  is  going  to  snow  tomorrow.  I  will 
go  hunting  and  kill  you  some  rabbits.  Please  put 
my  quiver  of  arrows,  my  new  bow  that  Tay-tay 
made  me,  and  some  lunch  by  the  door  before  you 
go  to  bed;  for  I  shall  leave  early  in  the  morning." 

Just  like  all  other  mothers,  Pah-tay's  mother  did 
as  he  asked  her.  She  put  his  new  bow  and  arrows 
against  the  door-post.  She  wrapped  up  some  hard 
baked  bread  in  some  corn  husks  for  his  lunch.  She 
put  this  lunch  beside  the  bow  and  arrows;  and  right 
on  top  of  it  she  placed  a  little  bag  made  of  buck- 
skin filled  with  corn  meal.  Ye-ah  wanted  Pah-tay 

to  sprinkle  a  little  sacred  meal  over  all  the  water  he 

72 


FAH-TAY  AND  THE  WIND-WITCH        73 

passed,  so  that  the  Rain-God  would  give  him  luck 
and  bring  him  safely  home  again. 

Next  morning  when  Ye-ah  awoke,  the  little  bed 
on  the  floor  next  to  her  blanket-bed  was  empty. 
She  looked  over  by  the  door  and  the  things  she 
had  placed  there  were  gone.  She  got  up  quickly 
and  looked  out  of  the  little 
peep-hole  window;  it  was 
snowing  and  the  big  round  red 
sun  was  hidden.  Pah-tay  had 
already  gone  out  over  the  prai- 
rie to  hunt  rabbits.  Quickly 
Ye-ah  went  into  the  little  room 
where  outsiders  were  never  al- 
lowed to  go,  and  took  some 
sacred  corn  meal  out  of  a  jar. 
She  dropped  the  meal  into  the  center  of  a  round 
pile  of  sacred  rocks;  so  that  the  good  spirits  would 
take  care  of  her  little  boy  out  in  the  snow. 

For  many  hours  Pah-tay  wandered  about  in  the 
snow  storm  killing  rabbits.  He  killed  so  many 
that  they  were  hanging  thick  all  around  his  belt. 


Pah-tay  wandered  about 
killing  rabbits 


74        PAH-TAY  AND  THE  WIND-WITCH 

It  had  been  growing  dark  and  the  snow  had  gotten 
so  deep  that  it  was  difficult  to  walk  through  it;  but 
little  Pah-tay  had  been  so  interested  in  his  rabbits, 
that  he  did  not  notice  either  the  darkness  or  the 
snow  until  he  had  used  his  last  arrow. 

Then  he  was  ready  to  go  home;  but  when  he 
turned  around  all  parts  of  the  country,  being 
covered  with  snow,  looked  just  alike  and  he  did  not 
know  which  way  to  go.  He  went  up  on  top  of  a 
little  hill  to  look  for  a  light.  He  knew  that  if  he 
saw  a  light  it  would  come  from  a  house. 

Sure  enough  he  saw  a  light.  He  went  to  the 
light,  and  climbed  the  ladder  he  found  beside  the 
house.  Then  he  called  down  through  the  open 
door,  "Does  a  friend  live  here?" 

"Yes,  a  friend  lives  here,  come  down!" 

Pah-tay  climbed  down  the  inside  ladder  to  the 
floor,  and  an  old  woman  roughly  caught  his  arm. 

"I  am  glad  you  have  come  for  I  eat  little 
children,"  she  said,  "and  I  am  starving  for  raw 


meat. ' 


Poor  Pah-tay  began  to  tremble.    He  tried  to  pull 


PAH-TAY  AND  THE  WIND-WITCH        75 

his  arm  away  from  the  old  witch,  for  that  is  what 
the  old  woman  was,  but  she  held  him  tight. 

"Aha,  what  is  this  you  have  here!  Rabbits!", 
and  the  old  witch  began  to  smack  her  lips. 

"I  shall  eat  these  rabbits  first  and  then  I  will 
eat  you." 

She  pushed  Pah-tay  down  into  the  corner  and 
began  to  skin  the  rabbits.  She  ate  the  rabbits  one 
by  one  with  her  sharp  teeth.  Pah-tay  tried  to 
slip  by  her  to  run  away;  but  she  pushed  him  back 
with  her  bloody  hands.  He  watched  her  eat  all  of 
the  big  pile  of  rabbits  but  two,  and  he  shivered  to 
think  how  soon  she  would  eat  him. 

"It  is  warm  down  here.  I  would  like  to  go  up 
and  sit  on  the  roof,"  he  said. 

"No,  replied  the  witch,  "I  will  not  give  you  a 
chance  to  get  away." 

"But  if  I  am  too  warm,  I  will  not  taste  good." 

"That  is  true;  but  you  will  taste  better  than  no 
boy  at  all." 

There  was  only  one  more  rabbit! 

"You  tie  all  of  your  belts  together,"  suggested 


76         PAH-TAY  AND  THE  WIND-WITCH 

Pah-tay,"  to  make  a  strong  rope,  and  then  tie  one 

end  to  my  leg  and  hold  the  other  end  while  I  go  up 

on  the  roof." 

The  old  witch  agreed,  so  she  made  a  rope  of  all  of 

her  belts.  She  tied  one  end  to  Pah-tay's  leg  and  he 
climbed  up  the  ladder.  As  soon  as  he  was 
up,  he  untied  the  rope  from  his  leg  and  tied 
it  to  the  ladder.  Then  he  whispered: 
"Little  fairy  in  the  ladder,  whenever  the 

old  witch  calls  me,  please  answer  'here  I  am'".    And 

then  he  climbed  quickly  and  quietly  down  the  out- 
side ladder  and  ran  up  on 

the  hill  to  look  for  another 

light.    He  saw  one  and  ran 

to  it. 

In  the  doorway  of  the 

house,  Pah-tay  found  two 

men  singing  and  beating  a 

drum. 

"Please,  let  me  in.     An 

old  witch  is  trying  to  eat  me  up  and  I  want  to  hide." 
The  men  let  him  in,  and  inside  some  women  were 


The  women  were  grinding  corn 


PAH-TAY  AND  THE  WIND-WITCH        77 

grinding  corn  on  big  stones.    Pah-tay  hid  behind  one 
of  the  stones.      v 

All  the  while  the  witch  was  eating  the  last  rabbit, 
she  kept  jerking  the  rope  and  calling,  "Are  you 
there,  little  boy?"  And  each  time  the  little  fairy 
in  the  ladder  answered,  "Here  I  am." 

But   the   last   time   she   jerked,    the   rope   came 
untied.     The   witch    looked   up    and    did   not    see 
Pah-tay.     "He  has  run  away,  but  I'll 
catch  him,"  and  she  showed  her  sharp 
teeth. 

She  turned  around  and  around  and 
changed  herself  into  the  north  wind. 


She  changed  her-    Then  she  went  whistling  after  Pah-tay. 

self  into  the  north 

wind  She  followed  him  to  the  house  where 

the  men  were  singing.  There  she  changed  herself 
back  from  the  wind  to  an  old  woman. 

"Where  is  that  little  boy  who  came  here  a  few 
minutes  ago?  I  want  him,"  she  wheezed. 

"Go  in,"  replied  the  men,"  and  if  you  find  him, 
he  is  yours." 

The  old  witch  went  in  and  looked  in  all  of  the 


78         PAH-TAY  AND  THE  WIND-WITCH 

dark  corners.  When  Pah-tay  saw  her  coming 
towards  the  stone  where  he  was  hiding,  he  ran 
outside  again.  He  saw  another  light  and  ran  to  it. 
This  light  was  in  a  kiva  and  the  medicine  men 
were  dancing  inside  with  their  rattles.  Down  into 
the  kiva  climbed  Pah-tay.  He  jumped  into  a  hole 
in  the  big  rattle  of  one  of  the  medicine  men.  He 
bumped  around  in  the  rattle  with  a  funny  noise; 
but  the  medicine  men  kept  on  singing  and  dancing. 


Yoh  -  oh,  yoh  -  oh,  bar  -  lo-chay.  Tsay-ay-ay  shun-a    po  -  yee  -  mah. 


m 


Yoh  -  oh,  yoh  -  oh,  bar  -  lo-chay.    He  -  yah,  yah  -  lay,  har-yah-  see. 


Es  -  say  -  ee,  shah  -  er,  poyee-yer-  mah. 

As  soon  as  the  old  witch  found  that  Pah-tay  had 
left  the  house  where  the  women  were  grinding  meal, 
she  whirled  around  and  changed  herself  again 
into  the  north  wind  and  followed  him.  She  went 
down  into  the  kiva  to  get  him;  for  she  had  changed 
into  an  old  woman  again.  But  the  sound  of  the  rat- 


The   medicine   men   were   dancing 
with  their  rattles. 


PAH-TAY  AND  THE  WIND-WITCH        79 

ties  confused  her.    She  tried  to  climb  the  ladder  to 
get  out  again,  but  before  she  reached  the  top  the 
rhythm  made  her  fall  back  dead. 
And  Pah-tay  went  back  home  to  Ye-ah. 


MR.  COYOTE  AND  THE  TWO  PRETTY 
GIRLS 

(Santa  Clara  Pueblo) 

Mr.  Coyote  was  walking  along  the  river's  edge 
one  morning,  when  he  saw  two  pretty  young  girls 
filling  their  water  jars  from  the  river.  He  ran  up 
into  the  mountains,  collected  all  kinds  of  fruit  that 


He  hid  in  the  bushes  and  dropped  the  fruit  down  into  the  water 

grew  there,  and  hurried  back  to  the  river  with  it. 
He  hid  in  the  bushes  and  dropped  the  fruit  down 
into  the  water  near  the  two  girls. 

The  girls  were  greatly  surprised  when  they  saw 

80 


COYOTE  AND  THE  TWO  GIRLS  81 

the  fruit.  Where  had  it  come  from,  they  wondered. 
They  looked  all  around  and  could  see  no  one,  so 
they  dipped  up  the  fruit  with  their  gourds  and  had 
a  big  feast. 

When  they  went  home  with  their  water  jars  the 
girls  told  their  parents;  "Oh,  Tah  and  Ye-ah, 
we  found  the  most  delicious  fruit  in  the  river  this 
morning.  It  was  floating  all  around  in  the  water. 
But  we  ate  it  all  up." 

Their  father  and  mother  said,  "Tomorrow  you 
must  bring  some  fruit  home  to  us." 

The  next  morning  when  the  girls  went  to  the 
river  with  their  water  jars,  there  was  not  any  fruit 
in  the  water.  "What  shall  we  do?  Tah  and  Ye-ah 
will  think  we  have  been  deceiving  them  and  will 
punish  us.  What  shall  we  do?" 

Mr.  Coyote,  who  had  been  awaiting  them  in  the 
bushes,  just  laughed.  Then  he  trotted  up  into  the 
mountains  again  and  brought  more  fruit  and 
dropped  it  quietly  into  the  water.  Then  he 
laughed  to  see  how  eagerly  the  girls  dipped  it  up 
with  their  gourds. 


82  COYOTE  AND  THE  TWO  GIRLS 

The  girls  took  the  fruit  home  to  their  parents.  It 
tasted  so  delicious  that  the  father  said,  "Tomorrow 
your  mother  and  I  will  go  for  water  so  that  we  can 
get  the  fruit." 

So  the  next  day  the  father  and  mother  went 
down  to  the  river  with  their  water  jars.  They 
looked  and  looked,  but  there  was  no  fruit  in  the 
water.  Mr.  Coyote,  who  had  been  waiting  to  see 
the  pretty  girls,  saw  them  searching  for  fruit.  He 
rolled  over  and  over  with  laughter  and  then  he 
ran  away  still  chuckling. 


DEH-A 

O-way-way-ham-by-yoh,  in  the  land  of  the  Taos  In- 
dians, all  of  the  tribe  went  out  in  the  forest  to  gather 
nuts.  While  they  were  there  a  young  girl  with  a  cruel 
heart  found  a  little  baby  boy.  She  did  not  tell  any- 
body about  the  baby  boy;  and  she  had  no  way  to 
carry  him  home  with  her,  so  when  they  returned  to 
the  village  she  left  the  little  fellow  in  the  mountains. 

Ten  years  later  a  party  of  Taos  Indians  went  up 
into  those  same  mountains  with  long  bows  and 
arrows  to  hunt  deer.  While  they  were  slipping 
around  quietly  behind  the  trees,  they  saw  an  old 
coyote  with  some  little  coyotes;  and  standing 
beside  them  was  a  little  naked  boy  ten  years  old. 
The  Indians  did  not  dare  to  shoot  at  the  coyotes  for 
fear  they  might  kill  the  little  boy,  so  they  jumped 
out  from  behind  the  trees  and  tried  to  catch  the 
boy.  But  he  was  too  quick  for  them.  He  could 
run  faster  than  the  coyotes,  and  they  all  ran  into 

the  coyote's  den  in  the  side  of  the  mountain. 

83 


84  DEH-A 

The  mother  coyote  had.  found  that  little  baby 
and  taken  him  to  her  den.  She  had  fed  him  and 
kept  him  all  those  years. 

The  Indians  went  back  home  and  called  a  council 
of  all  of  the  tribe.  They  told  them  about  the  little 
boy  they  had  seen  in  the  mountains. 

"He  belongs  to  our  tribe,  we  must  go  up  into 


He  could  run  faster  than  the  coyotes 

the  mountains  and  get  him,"  said  the  old  chief. 

So  the  warriors  went  up  into  the  mountains. 
One  warrior  went  to  the  mouth  of  the  coyote's  den. 
The  other  warriors  made  a  big  circle  around  the 
place  where  the  little  boy  and  the  coyotes  were,  in 
order  to  try  to  catch  him.  The  little  boy  was  so 
quick,  he  ran  right  through  the  circle  and  ran  as 
fast  as  he  could  toward  his  den-house;  but  the  man 
there  caught  the  boy  in  his  arms  and  held  him  tight. 

It  was  so  late  that  the  Indians  had  to  camp  in 


DEH-A  85 

the  woods  that  night.  They  made  a  big  fire  and 
roasted  some  deer  meat  for  their  supper.  The 
little  boy  would  not  eat  any  cooked  meat.  The 
Indians  had  to  feed  him  raw  meat  just  like  the 
coyotes  had  fed  him. 

When  they  got  back  home  the  Indians  named 
the  little  boy  Deh-a,  which  means  "fox";  because 
he  came  from  the  woods.  They  put  Deh-a  down 
into  the  cellar  of  a  house  for  a  year  to  tame  him, 
and  all  the  Indians  prayed  that  the  Great  Spirit 
would  give  him  magic. 

Deh-a  had  learned  all  the  animal  languages 
while  he  lived  with  the  coyotes.  He  knew  all  the 
signs  of  the  weather — when  it  would  rain  and  when 
it  would  snow.  When  he  heard  the  coyotes  howl, 
Deh-a  knew  there  was  danger  from  other  animals; 
and  so  he  became  a  very  wise  little  boy. 

One  day  Deh-a  looked  at  the  clouds  growing 
dark  all  around  the  village.  He  told  the  Indians  it 
was  going  to  rain  for  forty  days  and  forty  nights. 
He  begged  them  to  pack  up  all  the  food  they 
would  need  for  forty  days  and  to  climb  to  the  top 


86  DEH-A 

of  the  highest  mountain,  so  that  the  rain  might  not 
drown  them. 

Half   of   the    Indians    did    not   believe    him    and 
stayed   at  home.     The  other   half  took   food   and 


All  kinds  of  animals  climbed  the  mountain 

climbed  up  the  highest  mountain  they  could  find. 
When  they  reached  the  top  of  the  mountain,  the 
rain  began  to  fall  and  all  kinds  of  animals  climbed 
the  mountain  too,  until  the  top  of  the  mountain 


DEH-A  87 

was  all  covered  with  Indians  and  animals.  The 
turkeys  were  the  last  ones  to  get  there.  It  rained 
so  hard  and  so  fast  that  water  covered  all  of  the 
low  places.  It  drowned  all  of  the  people  who  stayed 
at  home  and  washed  away  their  houses.  The  water 
covered  all  of  the  trees,  all  of  the  hills  and  all  of 
the  mountains,  except  the  one  where  the  Indians 
had  gone  with  Deh-a.  It  ran  around  the  mountain 
top  so  fast  that  it  became  covered  with  white  foam, 
little  bubbles,  you  know — and  the  foam  touched 
the  tails  of  the  animals  that  were  on  the  lowest 
ring  around  the  mountain  and  those  animals  have 
white  tips  on  their  tails  to  this  very  day. 


THE  CONCEITED  ANT 

(Seama,  a  Laguna  Pueblo) 

One  winter  morning  when  the  ground  was  cov- 
ered with  snow,  an  ant  came  up  out  of  his  house. 

"Snow,"  he  said,  "I  am  the  strongest  thing  in 
the  world.  I  am  stronger  than  you!" 

The  snow  made  no  answer,  but  he  silently  froze 
the  little  ant's  feet. 

"Oh,  Snow,  you  are  stronger  than  I,  for  you 
have  frozen  my  feet  and  I  have  not  even  made  an 
impression  upon  you.  Are  you  the  strongest  thing 
in  the  world?" 

"No,"  replied  the  snow,  "the  sun  is  stronger  than 
I  am;  for  he  can  shine  down  upon  me  and  melt  me." 

Then  the  ant  asked  the  sun:  "Are  you  the 
strongest  thing  in  the  world,  Sun?" 

"Oh  no,  the  clouds  are  stronger  than  I.  When 
I  am  shining  they  come  between  me  and  the  earth 
and  hide  my  face. " 


THE  CONCEITED  ANT  89 

"Well,  you,  Cloud,  are  you  the  strongest  thing 
in  the  world?" 

"The  wind  is  stronger  than  we  are.  It  blows 
and  drives  us  around  wherever  it  pleases." 

So  the  ant  asked  the  wind:  "Are  you  then  the 
strongest  thing  in  the  world,  Wind?" 

"No,  a  house  is  stronger  than  I  am;  for  when  I 
am  blowing,  it  turns  me  aside  and  sends  me  on  in 


"When  he  catches  me  he  will  eat  me  up" 

another  direction.     A  house  is  stronger  than  I." 

"Then,  House,  you  must  be  the  strongest  thing 
in  the  world?" 

"You  are  mistaken,  Ant,  a  mouse  is  stronger 
than  I  am,  for  he  cuts  holes  in  my  walls." 

The  ant  found  a  mouse:  "Are  you,  too,  stronger 
than  I  am?  Are  you  the  strongest  thing  in  the 
world,  Mouse?" 

"  Indeed  no,  the  cat  is  stronger  than  I  am.  When 
he  catches  me  he  will  eat  me  up." 


9o  THE  CONCEITED  ANT 

The  ant  went  to  ask  the  cat,  "Cat,  are  you  the 
strongest  thing  in  the  world?  The  mouse  says  you 
are  stronger  than  he." 

"I  may  be  stronger  than  the  mouse;  but  the 
poker  is  stronger  than  I  am;  for  it  gives  me  hard 
licks  sometimes." 

Then  the  poker  must  be  the  strongest  thing  in 
the  world,  thought  the  ant;  so  he  went  and  asked 
the  poker. 

"No,  I  am  not  the  strongest  thing  in  the  world," 
replied  the  poker,  "for  the  fire  heats  me  and  could 
melt  me.  The  fire  is  stronger  than  I. " 

"Well,  Fire,"  asked  the  ant,  "are  you  the 
strongest  thing  in  the  world?" 

"Water  is  stronger  than  I.  It  can  put  me  out. 
Go  ask  Water. " 

So  the  ant  asked  the  water. 

"No,  I  am  not  the  strongest  thing  in  the  world," 
answered  Water,  "Ox  can  drink  me." 

"Well,  what  about  you,  Ox?"  asked  the  ant. 

"Man  drives  me.     He  is  stronger  than  I  am." 

"Then  Man,  you  must  be  the  strongest  thing  in 


THE  CONCEITED  ANT  91 

the  world.     Even  stronger  than  I  am,"  said  the 
ant. 

"No,"  replied  Man,  "knife  can  cut  me.  He  is 
stronger  than  I." 

Finally  the  ant  went  to  the  knife: 
"Knife,"  he  asked,  "are  you  stronger 
than  I  am  ?  Are  you  the  strongest  thing 
in  the  world?" 

"No,  I  am  not  the  strongest  thing  in  the  world; 
but  I  am  stronger  than  you  are;"  and  with  that, 
the  knife  fell  upon  the  ant  and  cut  him  into  pieces. 


THE   FOX   AND   THE   SKUNK 

(Santo  Domingo  Pueblo) 

One  day,  once  upon  a  time,  Mr.  Fox  slipped  into 
a  watermelon  patch  and  stole  a  melon.  He  saw 
Mr.  Skunk  coming,  so  he  ran  and  climbed  a  tree  to 
hide  and  eat  his  melon.  But  Mr.  Skunk  walked 
right  under  the  tree  and  spoiled  Mr.  Fox's  melon. 


The  fox  made  a  bag  for  the  skunk 

"I  shall  get  even  with  Mr.  Skunk  for  spoiling 
my  watermelon,"  said  he;  and  down  he  jumped 
from  the  tree.  He  was  so  angry  that  he  ran  up  to 

Mr.  Skunk  to  have  a  battle  with  him.     Very  soon 

92 


THE  FOX  AND  THE  SKUNK  93 

he  found  that  he  could  not  whip  Mr.  Skunk,  so  he 
decided  to  make  friends  with  him. 

They  walked  along  together  for  a  short  distance 
and  then  Mr.  Fox  looked  up  and  said:  "It  is  go- 
ing to  rain.  Let  me  make  a  bag  to  put  you  into, 


He  threw  big  rocks  that  hurt  Mr.  Skunk 

Skunk-Man,  to  keep  you  dry.  I  can  find  a  hole 
somewhere  for  myself."  And  the  fox  made  a  bag 
for  the  skunk.  All  the  time  he  was  making  it,  Mr. 
Skunk  was  jumping  around  singing  and  dancing 
with  joy.  When  it  was  finished,  Mr.  Skunk  crawled 
in  and  Mr.  Fox  tied  him  in  and  fastened  him  up  to 
the  limb  of  a  tree. 


94  THE  FOX  AND  THE  SKUNK 

Then  the  fox  picked  up  a  handful  of  pebbles  and 
threw  them  over  the  bag,  to  make  the  skunk  think 
that  it  was  raining.  He  took  another  handful  of 
pebbles;  then  a  handful  of  larger  rocks;  and  then 
still  larger  rocks,  until  he  threw  big  rocks  that  hurt 
Mr.  Skunk. 

"Ouch,"  he  cried;  but  Mr.  Fox  threw  bigger 
and  bigger  rocks  until  he  had  bruised  Mr.  Skunk 
all  over.  Then  he  left  him  to  get  out  the  best  way 
he  could. 

"Now,"  said  Mr.  Fox,  "I  can  have  all  the 
watermelons  I  want  and  there  is  no  one  to  spoil 
them."  And  he  trotted  off  for  another  melon. 

But  while  Mr.  Fox  was  selecting  his  watermelon, 
an  Indian  boy,  who  owned  the  patch,  came  along 
and  pierced  him  with  his  arrow.  And  to  this  very 
day  Mr.  Fox  carries  the  scar  from  that  arrow  in 
his  right  front  shoulder. 


TEN   LITTLE   PRAIRIE   DOGS 

(Seama,  a  Laguna  Pueblo) 

Ten  little  prairie  dogs,  one  day,  long  time  ago, 
started  up  out  of  their  hole  with  their  drum. 
Their  mother  said:  "Do  not  dance  outside,  my 
children,  for  if  you  do  an  eagle  will  swoop  down 
upon  you  and  eat  you  all  up. " 

But  the  ten  little  prairie  dogs  only  laughed  and 
went  on  outside  to  dance.  They  sang  as  they 
danced: 


Quickly^ 

Lzi—          J 1 — J 1  "l         t— ftJ  uJ  J         'J 


Sair  -  rah  •  mah  -  dah  -  quee  -  quee,   Sair  -  rah  -  mah  - 
'We      will    dance      in       safe  -  ty.      We      will    dance 


dah  -  quee-quee,  Moo-cher-quee-quee  Moo-cher-quee-quee. 
in     safe  -  ty,  Who  can  harm   us?  Who  can  harm   us?" 

Sure  enough  while  they  were  dancing  around  the 
hole,  an  eagle  came  down  and  swallowed  them  all. 

9S 


96  TEN  LITTLE  PRAIRIE  DOGS 

The  last  one  she  ate  was  the  prairie  dog  with  the 
drum  and  she  swallowed  him  drum  and  all. 

Then  the  eagle  went  to  get  a  drink  of  water. 


An  eagle  came  down  and  swallowed  them  all 

When  she  leaned  down  to  drink,  she  felt  very  queer 
and  she  could  hear  a  drum  beating.  It  was  the 
ten  little  prairie  dogs  dancing  inside  her.  They 
danced  so  hard  and  made  the  eagle  so  sick  that 
she  finally  fell  over  dead.  Then  all  of  the  little 
prairie  dogs  came  out  again  and  ran  home  to  tell 
their  mother  all  about  it. 


TEN  LITTLE  PRAIRIE  DOGS  97 

The  next  day  the  ten  little  prairie  dogs  started 
outside  again  to  dance.  "Do  not  go  out,  my 
children,"  said  their  mother,  "the  Indians  have  set 
a  trap  for  you.  They  will  catch  you  and  eat  you 
if  you  go  outside.  " 

But  the  little  prairie  dogs 
only  laughed  and  went  out- 

side  again. 

"Let  us  go  and  see  what  a 
trap  is  like,"  suggested  one  little  prairie  dog,  so 
they  all  started  over  the  prairie  in  search  of  a 
trap.  They  found  one  and  all  got  caught  in  it. 
This  time  they  never  got  back  home  to  tell  their 
mother  all  about  it;  for  the  Indians  roasted  and 
ate  them. 


Let  us  see  what  a  trap 
is  like" 


THE  BEE  AND  THE  FOX 


(Seama,  a  Laguna  Pueblo} 

A  bee  was   sitting  on  a   flower  singing  happily 
one  day: 


Slowly. 

*k  /  I      "1 


— 


Tse  -  ee  -  ee  -  ee     Tse  -  ee  -  ee  -  ee       ah  -  5  -  ah      tse  -  ee 
I      go    buz  -  zing,     I       go    buz  -  zing.    Sip    •    ping  flow  -  ers, 


ah  -  a  -  ah      tse  -  ee       Es  -  tse 
sip    •    ping   flow  •  ers.       I     sip, 


es  -  tse. 
I    sip. 


when  a  fox  passed  by. 

"Why  are  you  singing  so  happily,  Mrs.  Bee?" 
asked  the  fox. 

"Because  I  am  making  honey,"  an- 
swered she,  "and  honey  is  sweet  enough 
to  make  anybody  happy.    Would  you 
like  to  taste  my  honey,  Mr.  Fox?" 
Then  Mrs.  Bee  put  her  foot  on  Mr. 

Fox's  tongue  and  gave  him  a  taste  of  her  honey. 

98 


/ 

Sitting  on  a 
flower  singing 


THE  BEE  AND  THE  FOX  99 

"That  is  the  best  thing  I  have  ever  tasted. 
How  do  you  make  it,  Mrs.  Bee?  I  want  to  make 
some  myself." 

Mrs.  Bee  laughed  and  said,  "I  get  it  from  my 
feet  by  pounding  them  with  a  stone.  At  first 
when  I  strike  them,  blood  comes;  but  beneath  the 
blood  is  honey,  so  I  keep  pounding  them  until 
the  blood  has  all  come  out  and  then  I  get  the 
honey. " 

Mrs.  Bee  laughed  again  and  flew  away  buzzing. 

Mr.  Fox  found  a  big  stone. 
He  sat  down  and  began  to 
pound  his  feet.  It  hurt  him 
very  much,  but  he  wanted  some 
honey;  so  he  kept  pounding 
and  the  blood  kept  coming.  He  He  sat  down  and  besan  to 

pound  his  feet 

pounded  his   hind  feet   entirely 
away  and  still  there  was  no  honey. 

He  knew  then  that  the  bee  had  tricked  him.  He 
was  so  angry  that  he  wanted  to  pound  her  into  pieces 
with  that  same  stone;  but  the  little  bee  had  wisely 
flown  so  far  away  that  Mr.  Fox  could  never  find  her. 


THE   FOX   AND   THE   MICE 

(Seama,  a  Laguna  Pueblo) 

A  long,  long  time  ago  a  fox  went  to  sleep  on  a 
sunny  slope.  While  he  was  asleep  four  little  mice 
pulled  all  of  his  hair  out.  They  sang  as  they 
worked,  "The  fox  is  dead.  Hoo-ray,  hoo-ray, 
hoo-ray ! " 


Schkoo-weh-nyee  -  see  -  chuss  -  ter.     Sip,     sip    High,  high. 

When  he  awoke  and  found  his  hair  all  gone, 
Mr.  Fox  was  very  angry.  He  saw  the  mice  tracks 
and  followed  them  to  their  hole.  There  he  met  the 
first  little  mouse. 

"Who  pulled  all  of  my  hair  out?"  angrily  asked 
Mr.  Fox. 

"My  brother  did,  not  I,"  said  the  little  mouse, 
and  he  ran  away  to  the  north. 

Mr.  Fox  dug  down  into  the  mice's  home  until 
he  found  the  second  little  mouse: 


100 


THE  FOX  AND  THE  MICE  101 

"Who  pulled  my  hair  out?" 

"Not  I,  my  brother  did,"  replied  the  second 
little  mouse  and  he  ran  away  to  the  south. 

Mr.  Fox  dug  deeper  until  he  came  to  the  third 
little  mouse: 

"Tell  me  who  pulled  all  my  hair  out?"  thundered 
Mr.  Fox;  for  he  was  growing  madder  all  the  time. 

"I  didn't  pull  it  out,"  answered  the  third  little 
mouse,  "my  brother  did,"  and  he  ran  away  to  the 
east. 

And  so  Mr.  Fox  dug  farther  down  to  where  the 
fourth  little  mouse  was. 

"Did  you  pull  all  my  hair  out?" 

"No  sir,  not  I.  It  was  my  brother,"  and  that 
little  mouse  ran  away  to  the  west. 

Mr.  Fox  kept  on  digging  until  finally  he  found 
all  of  his  hair  lying  at  the  bottom  of  the  mice's 
home.  He  wanted  to  kill  the  mice;  but  they  had 
all  run  away.  So  Mr.  Fox  took  his  hair  out.  He 
gathered  some  gum  from  a  pinon  tree  and  spread  it 
over  a  flat  stone.  Then  he  put  his  hair  on  the  gum 
and  lay  down  with  his  back  on  the  stone,  to  try 


IO2 


THE  FOX  AND  THE  MICE 


to  rub  his  hair  on  again.  He  thought  the  gum 
would  glue  his  hair  onto  him;  but  instead,  it  glued 
the  stone  hard  and  fast  to  his  back.  Everywhere 
he  went  he  had  to  carry  the  heavy  stone. 


He  lay  down  with  his  back  on  the  stone 

He  looked  so  funny  without  any  hair  and  with 
a  stone  on  his  back  that  when  he  met  another  fox. 
the  other  fox  rolled  over  and  over  with  laughter. 

"You  need  not  laugh,  Brother  Fox.  Instead, 
you  had  better  wish  that  you  were  in  my  place.  I 
am  carrying  this  stone  to  the  beautiful  daughter 


THE  FOX  AND  THE  MICE  103 

of  the  Indian  chief  at  Zuni  for  a  bread  stone.  She 
has  promised  to  reward  me  for  it." 

"Oh  please  let  me  help  you  carry  it,"  begged  the 
other  fox. 

"I  would  not  let  you  if  I  were  not  tired," 
replied  the  first  fox,  "but  since  I  am  tired,  I 
think  I  will  let  you  help  me. " 

So  the  second  fox  took  the  stone  off  of  the  first 
fox's  back  and  put  it  on  his  own  back.  And  there 
it  stuck  hard  and  fast,  while  the  first  fox  ran  away 
laughing. 

The  second  fox  went  along  toward  Zuni  until  he 
found  a  third  fox. 

"I  am  taking  this  stone  to  the  Zuni  chief's 
beautiful  daughter  in  exchange  for  a  reward.  She 
wants  it  for  a  bread  stone,"  said  he  to  the  third 
fox;  "Would  you  not  like  to  help  me  for  I  am 
growing  weary?" 

"Indeed  I  should,"  and  the  third  fox  took  the 
stone  and  put  it  on  his  back.  And  there  it  stuck 
hard  and  fast.  This  time  the  second  fox  ran 
away  laughing. 


io4  THE  FOX  AND  THE  MICE 

Then  the  third  fox  went  on  toward  Zuni  until  he 
met  a  fourth  fox. 

"Good-day,  Brother,"  said  the  third  fox,  "I  am 
very  tired.  Can  you  tell  me  how  far  it  is  to  Zuni; 
for  I  am  carrying  this  stone  to  the  Indian  chief's 
beautiful  daughter  and  she  will  give  me  a  reward 
for  it?" 

"Oh,  it  is  not  far.     Let  me  help  you,"  said  the 

fourth  fox;  for  he 
wanted  the  reward, 
too. 

So  the  fourth  fox 
took  the  stone  and  it 
stuck  hard  and  fast 


The  dogs  almost  caught  him 


to  his  back.  The  third  fox  trotted  away  laughing. 
When  the  fourth  fox  reached  Zuni,  the  dogs  ran 
out  and  chased  him.  The  stone  was  so  heavy  on 
his  back  that  the  dogs  almost  caught  him.  For 
many  days  he  wore  that  stone  around  on  his  back 
until  finally  the  gum  wore  away  and  the  stone 
fell  off. 


DY-YOH-WI  AND  HIS  EAGLE 

(Seama,  a  Laguna  Pueblo) 

Once  upon  a  time  an  Indian  boy,  Dy-yoh-wi,  had 
an  eagle.  When  Dy-yoh-wi  went  out  to  hunt 
rabbits  and  other  small  animals  for  food  for  his 
eagle,  the  people  in  the  village  were  mean  to  the 
eagle.  They  treated  it  so  unkindly  that  the  eagle 
grew  unhappy.  One  day  he  said  to  Dy-yoh-wi: 
"Go  put  on  your  war  clothes  and  I  will  take  you 
up  to  live  among  the  eagles.  It  is  pleasanter  up 
there  than  here." 

Dy-yoh-wi  did  not  like  to  leave  his  people;  but 
the  eagle  insisted,  so  he  did  as  he  was  bid.  Then 
the  eagle  took  him  on  his  back  and  flew  four  times 
around  the  plaza.  While  they  were  flying  around, 
Dy-yoh-wi  cried  and  sang  for  he  felt  so  sad: 

Slowly 


j    i  -r-  r- 

-J-  _,-  _^_  ^.  ^.  ^  nr  ^ 


I  -  ee-nigh-  oh      I  -  ee-nigh  -  oh      I  -  o    Dy  -  yoh-wi  Ee-nigh-oh. 
I    am  sad  -  o,      I     am  sad  -  o.  Why  Dy-  yoh  -  wi  why  do  you  go. 

105 


io6  DY-YOH-WI  AND  HIS  EAGLE 

The  people  heard  him  singing.  They  came  out 
of  their  houses  in  time  to  see  the  eagle  fly  away  to 
the  cliffs  with  him.  When  his  father  and  mother 
heard  what  had  happened,  they  wept  and  moaned. 

Dy-yoh-wi    was     not    very    happy,     either,     up 


The  eagle  took  him  on  his  back 

among  the  eagles.  His  eagle  did  everything  to 
make  him  happy.  He  took  Dy-yoh-wi  to  visit  in 
all  the  other  eagles'  houses.  He  flew  down  among 
the  Navaho  Indians  and  brought  back  clothes  and 
skins  for  him;  but  still  Dy-yoh-wi  was  home- 
sick. 

Two  spiders  saw  that  he  was  sad,  so  they  took 


DY-YOH-WI   AND  HIS  EAGLE  107 

him  down  on  their  web  one  day  to  their  home  in 
the  valley.  While  he  was  there  he  hunted  deer  to 
the  north,  the  south,  the  east  and  the  west.  He 
ate  and  ate  and  then  saved  some  of  the  meat  for 
his  eagle.  The  spiders  spread  the  skins  out  in  the 

sunshine  and  pulled  all 
of  the  hairs  out  of  them. 
Then  they  told  Dy-yoh- 

The  spiders  pulled  all  the  hairs  out 

wi  that  when  he  left  the 

cliff  he  should  stick  a  needle  through  the  skins  and 
see  what  he  could  make.  That  was  the  way  they 
taught  Dy-yoh-wi  that  he  could  make  clothes  and 
shoes  out  of  buckskin;  for  the  Indians  had  not 
known  the  use  of  buckskin  before. 

But  Dy-yoh-wi  was  not  happy  with  the  spiders 
either,  so  the  eagle  came  down  and  took  him  up 
again  to  his  home  on  the  cliffs. 

"You  cannot  be  happy  here,  Dy-yoh-wi,"  said 
the  eagle  to  him  one  day,"  and  I  cannot  be  happy 
with  your  people,  so  now  I  will  let  you  go  home 
and  you  must  let  me  stay  here. " 

So  Dy-yoh-wi  took  all  the  things  that  the  eagle 


io8  DY-YOH-WI  AND  HIS  EAGLE 

had  gotten  for  him  from  the  Navahos,  and  all  of 
his  deer  skins  and  tied  them  in  a  bundle  on  his 
back.  Then  the  eagle  took  him  to  the  bottom  of 
the  cliff  and  he  walked  home. 

His  people  saw  him  coming  and  ran  to  tell  his 
father  and  mother.  They  all  rushed  out  to  meet 
him  and  there  was  great  rejoicing  over  Dy-yoh-wi's 
return. 

Dy-yoh-wi  grew  to  be  a  great  man.  He  taught 
his  people  how  to  make  clothes  and  moccasins  of 
buckskin  and  never  again  caught  another  eagle. 


ft* 


The  Indians  were  having  a  big 
Kachina  dance. 


THE  THIEVING  FOXES 

(Seama,  a  Laguna  Pueblo) 

/ 
Once  upon  a  time  the  Indians  were  having  a  big 

dance,  because  they  had  gathered  much  corn  and 
many  squashes  and  other  things  to  eat;  for  the 
Rain-God  had  been  very  kind  and  sent  many  show- 
ers to  make  things  grow.  They  were  singing  and 
making  music  with  the  dried  shoulder  blades  of 
sheep. 

—  *   "  "  E   ^~~*    < 


I    high  -  ee     -     he         I  -  high  -  ee     -     he       Oo-mung-ah-ming 
Clouds  are  com    -    ing;      rain    is  com-ing  near.     O,  come  be  -hold. 


You  -  oo  -  young-ung    Ee  -  kee  -  nee  -  ee      Bye  -  you  -  ee  -    oh 
Heav  -  y        the  clouds  Rain     is        fall  -  ing     Re  -  joice  peo  -  pie 


I 


Oh  -  moh-wah  -  der    Ah  -  bay  -  o  -  ti  -  ee     Ha  -  ha-we-ma-ning. 
Dance  and  sing  and  sing,  Heav-y  are  the  clouds,  Rain  is    fall  -  ing. 

A  fox  on  top  of  the  high  mesa  beside  the  val- 
ley  saw   them   dancing.       He   howled   and   howled 

in  all  directions.     Blue  foxes  ran  to  him  from  the 

109 


I  io  THE  THIEVING  FOXES 

east;  yellow  foxes  came  from  the  west;  gray  foxes 
from  the  north;  and  black  foxes  from  the 
south. 

"Brothers,"  said  the  first  fox  to  them,  "the 
Indians  have  much  corn  and  many  good  things  to 
eat.  They  are  busy  singing  and  dancing  and  will 

not  see  us.     Let  us 
go    down    and    help 
ourselves  to  the  good 
things. " 
can  we    get    down    the 


They  made  a  long  chain 

down  the  steep  cliff      climb  down  the  cliff. 


cliff?"  asked  one  fox. 

"We  will  make  a  chain,"  re- 
plied the  first  fox,  "by  biting  each 
others'  tails;  and  then  we  can 

But  not  a 

fox  must  open  his  mouth  or  the  chain  will  be  broken 
and  we  shall  all  fall." 

So  the  first  fox  started  down  the  cliff;  the  second 
fox  caught  and  held  his  tail  tight  between  his 
teeth.  The  third  fox  caught  the  second  fox's  tail; 
the  fourth  fox  held  the  third  fox's  tail;  and  so  on 


THE  THIEVING  FOXES  in 

until  each  fox  held  another  fox's  tail  and  they  made 
a  long  chain  down  the  steep  cliff. 

But  an  ant  stung  one  of  the  foxes  near  the  top 
and  he  forgot  his  orders,  opened  his  mouth  to  snap 
the  ant,  and  let  the  tail  he  held  slip  out  from 
between  his  teeth.  Down  fell  all  of  the  foxes; 
down  the  steep  cliff  onto  the  rocks  below,  and  every 
one  of  them  was  killed. 


BUNNY  RABBIT  AND  THE  KING  OF  BEASTS 

( Taos  Pueblo) 

Bunny  Rabbit  had  been  playing  so  many  pranks 
on  the  other  animals  that  the  King  of  Beasts 
decided  he  would  have  to  eat  him  up.  So  he  told 
the  Fox:  "Go  bring  Bunny  Rabbit  to  me,  so  I  can 
eat  him  up  and  get  him  out  of  our  way." 

The  Fox  trotted  off  over  the  prairie  and  found 
Bunny  Rabbit.  "Come  with  me,  Bunny  Rabbit. 
The  King  of  Beasts  has  sent  for  you. " 

"All  right,"  replied  Bunny  Rabbit,'"but  before 
we  go,  don't  you  want  some  nice  apples  to  eat? 
Right  over  there  in  that  field  there  is  a  tree  just 
full  of  apples.  You  go  over  and  get  some  and 
I'll  wait  here  for  you." 

Apples  sounded  very  good  to  the  Fox,  so  he 
left  Bunny  Rabbit  and  went  to  find  the  tree. 
Bunny  Rabbit  ran  away.  The  Fox  found  the 
apples  so  delicious  that  he  stayed  under  the  tree 


112 


Bunny  Rabbit  ran  away 


BUNNY  AND  THE  KING  OF  BEASTS       113 

all  night  eating  them.  Next  morning  he  had  such  a 
pain  in  his  stomach  that  he  lay  on  the  ground  and 
rolled  over  and  over,  moaning  and  groaning. 

When  the  Fox  did  not  come  back  with  the  rabbit, 
the  King  of  Beasts  called  the  coyote:  "Coyote,  go 

find  the  Fox  and  see 
why  he  hasn't  brought 
the  rabbit  to  me." 

So    the    Coyote   set 
out   to  find   the   Fox. 
He  found  him  groaning 
under  the  apple  tree. 

"Where  is  Bunny  Rabbit?  Why  haven't  you 
taken  him  to  the  King  of  Beasts?" 

"I  swallowed  him,"  said  the  Fox,  "to  keep  him 
from  getting  away  and  he  is  kicking  around  in  my 
stomach  so  hard  to  get  out  that  I  have  a  dreadful 
pain.  I  cannot  walk.  Please  go  over  on  the  other 
side  of  that  hill  and  bring  me  some  of  the  herbs 
growing  there.  They  are  good  medicine  and  will 
make  me  feel  better.  Then  we  can  take  the 
rabbit  to  the  King  of  Beasts." 


H4      BUNNY  AND  THE  KING  OF  BEASTS 

Coyote  ran  over  the  hill  to  get  the  herbs.  He 
bit  off  a  mouth  full  of  herbs  to  take  to  the  Fox. 
They  tasted  so  good  that  he  kept  eating  and  eating 
them.  He  stayed  there  all  night  eating  the  herbs. 
Next  day  the  King  of  Beasts  called  the  pinon 
jay  bird:  "Go,  find  the  Coyote  and  the  Fox  and 

see  why  they  haven't 
brought  the  rabbit  to 
me." 

The  pinon  Jay  flew 
away  over  the  prairie. 
He  found  Bunny  Rab- 
bit. He  did  not  wait 
to  find  the  Coyote  and 
the  Fox.  He  just  flew  away  with  Bunny  Rabbit 
to  the  King  of  Beasts. 

The  King  of  Beasts  showed  his  sharp  teeth  and 
licked  out  his  long  tongue;  "Well,  Bunny  Rabbit, 
I  have  you  at  last.  You  have  been  annoying  the 
other  animals  so  much  with  your  pranks  that  I  am 
going  to  eat  you  up!" 

"I  am  very  tired,  King  of  Beasts,  I  shall  be  glad 


He  flew  away  with  Bunny  Rabbit 


BUNNY  AND  THE  KING  OF  BEASTS       115 

to  be  eaten  up;  but  wouldn't  you  like  some  fat 
little  prairie  dogs  to  eat  first?  I  know  where  there 
are  lots  of  fat  ones.  I  will  show  you." 

Now  Bunny  Rabbit  knew  where  a  hunter  had 


The  trap  caught  the  King  of  Beasts  and  held  him  tight 

set  a  trap  in  the  woods,  so  he  led  the  King  of 
Beasts  right  into  the  trap.  The  trap  caught  the 
King  of  Beasts'  foot  and  held  him  tight  for  the 
hunter.  Bunny  Rabbit  ran  away  calling,  "I  hope 
you  will  enjoy  the  prairie  dogs,  King  of  Beasts." 


THE  LITTLE  INDIAN  BOY  WHO  WAS 
CHANGED  INTO  AN  OWL 


(Hopi,  Second  Mesa) 

Once  upon  a  time  a  little  Indian  boy  kept  crying 
and  crying  all  day  long.  His  father  and  mother 
could  not  make  him  stop  crying,  so  finally  they 
put  him  outside  and  shut  the  door;  for  they  could 
not  stand  his  noise  any  longer. 

He  kept  on  squalling  outside,  so  an  owl  came  and 

took  him  away. 

When  the  little  boy's  fa- 
ther went  out  to  get  his  son 
— because  he  thought  the 
boy  had  stopped  crying — 
he  could  not  find  him  any- 
where. He  looked  all  over 
the  village  and  all  over  the  mesa,  but  he  could  not 
find  him.  He  was  distressed  and  he  and  the  little 

boy's  mother  wept  and  mourned. 

116 


Burros  loaded  with  wood 


THE  BOY  WHO  WAS  AN  OWL  117 

Several  days  later  the  father  took  his  burros  to  go 
for  a  load  of  wood.  He  passed  near  The  Owls' 
Cave,  where  many  owls  live.  As  he  passed  by  he 
heard  his  little  boy's  voice  calling,  "Father,  Father, 
here  I  am."  He  looked  into  the  cave,  but  he 
could  see  only  a  lot  of  owls  up  on  the  rocks  inside. 
There  was  one  owl  bigger  than 
all  the  rest  and  that  owl  said, 
"I  am  your  little  boy,  Father." 

"Well,  come  to  me  if  you 
are,"  replied  his  father. 

"No,"  said  another  owl — 
the  same  owl  that  had  taken 
the  little  boy  away — "He  can- 
not go  with  you  unless  he 

promises   not  tO    Cry  SO  much      The  father  took  the  little-boy- 
owl  by  his  wing 

and  be  such  a  bad  boy." 

"I  will  be  good,"  said  the  little-boy-owl. 

"Well  then,  you  may  fly  down  to  your  father.  He 
must  put  you  in  the  kiva  and  keep  you  there  for  four 
days;  and  if  you  have  kept  your  promise  to  be  good, 
then  you  will  turn  back  into  a  little  boy  once  more." 


ii8          THE  BOY  WHO  WAS  AN  OWL 

So  the  father  took  the  little-boy-owl  by  his 
wing  and  carried  him  home.  He  put  him  into  the 
kiva,  as  the  old  owl  had  told  him,  and  kept  him 
there  for  four  days.  And  sure  enough  at  the  end 
of  that  time  the  owl  was  a  little  boy  again. 

And  the  little  boy  was  good  ever  after. 


THE  FOX  AND  THE  SHEEP 

(Hopi,  Second  Mesa) 

Once  upon  a  time  a  fox  and  a  sheep  were  neigh- 
bors. The  sheep  was  so  round  and  fat  that  the 
fox  wanted  to  eat  him  up,  but  since  that  would 
not  be  a  neighborly  thing  to  do,  he  thought  and 
thought  of  an  excuse  to  eat  the  fat  sheep.  So 
one  day  the  fox  went  to  call  on  the  sheep. 

"Let  us  play  games  together,  Sheep-Man,"  said 
Mr.  Fox,  "Let  us  play  hiding.  I  will  hide  and  if 
you  cannot  find  me  then  I  will  eat  you  up." 

Now  since  the  fox  was  the  sheep's  guest,  the 
sheep  had  to  play  with  him.  So  the  fox  hid  under 
a  pile  of  blankets.  The  sheep  looked  about  and 
soon  found  him. 

"Now  it  is  my  turn  to  hide,"  said  Mr.  Sheep. 
He  hid  among  the  rocks;  but  the  fox  found  him, 
too. 

"Let  us  play  rolling,"  suggested  Mr.  Fox.     "We 

119 


120  THE  FOX  AND  THE  SHEEP 

shall  roll  down  the  side  of  this  wash  and  if  I  beat 
you  then  I  will  eat  you." 

So  they  tumbled  down  the  slope;  but  the  sheep 
was  fatter  and  rounder  than  the  fox  so  he  reached 
the  bottom  first. 


"Let  us  play  rolling"  suggested  Mr.  Fox 


Mr.  Fox  was  disappointed  for  he  wanted  very 
much  to  eat  that  nice  fat  sheep. 

"Well,  let  us  run  a  race,"  said  Mr.  Fox  "and  if  I 
beat  I  shall  eat  ,you  up. "  He  was  sure  he  could 
run  faster  than  a  fat  sheep. 

So  they  ran  a  race;  but  the  fox  stepped  on  a 
sharp  stone  and  turned  his  ankle.  He  could  not 


THE  FOX  AND  THE  SHEEP  121 

run  fast  with  a  sprained  ankle,  so  he  just  limped 
along  and  the  sheep  won  the  race. 

"Now  let  us  play  jumping,"  said  Mr.  Fox.  "We 
will  jump  over  this  wash  and  whoever  does  not 
jump  across  to  the  other  side  will  be  eaten." 

The  fox  jumped  across  easily;  but  the  sheep  only 


"Now  let  us  play  jumping,"  said  Mr.  Fox 

got  three  legs  over.  His  fourth  leg  slipped  into 
the  wash. 

"Good,"  laughed  Mr.  Fox,  "now  I  can  eat  your 
leg.  So  the  fox  cut  off  one  of  the  sheep's  hind 
legs  and  roasted  it. 

After  that  the  lame  sheep  was  never  at  home 
when  the  fox  came  to  call. 


WHITE    CORN   AND    THE    GRASSHOPPERS 


(San  Juan  Pueblo) 

O-way-way-ham-by-yoh,  which  means  long  time 
ago,  old  man  Dried-up-Corn  had  two  daughters 
named  White  Corn  and  Blue  Corn.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Dried-Up-Corn  sent  their  daughters  out  into  the 

garden    one    afternoon    to 
pick  peas  for  supper. 

When  the  two  Corn 
maidens  went  outside  they 
found  some  grasshoppers 

The  grasshoppers  began  to  dance        j  j        •       •  11 

dancing    and    singing    all 

around  the  garden.  But  when  the  grasshoppers 
saw  White  Corn  and  Blue  Corn  they  started  to 
hop  away. 

"Oh  do  not  go  away,  Grasshoppers.  If  you  will 
dance  and  sing  some  more  for  us,  we  will  give  you 
a  row  of  peas." 

122 


WHITE  CORN  AND  THE  GRASSHOPPERS    123 

So    the   grasshoppers    began    to    sing    and   dance 
again: 

"We  are  bow-legged. 

Our  faces  are  as  hard  as  can  be; 

But  whatever  else  may  be, 

They  are  alike  on  both  sides,  you  see. 

Fee-de-qui  quah,  quah. 

Fee-de-qui,  quah,  quah." 


Fast 


S7r"J"7r?"J  j. 

Cume-boo-oo  -yah  -  ah  Fing-gid-dy.  Cume-boo-oo-yah-ah  Fing-gid-dy 


Fing  -  gid-dy,  fing  -  gid-dy,wah.Tsay  •  a  Toomeh-tah,  Fing  -  gid-dy 
Tsay-a  Toomeh-tah,  Fin?  -  gid  -dj,  Wah.  Fe«  -  de  -  qui,    quah  qaah.  Fee  -  de  •  qui,    qoah  qoth. 


The  Corn  maidens  laughed  and  clapped  their 
hands.  When  the  grasshoppers  stopped  singing 
and  ate  up  their  row  of  peas,  White  Corn  begged: 
"Oh  please  dance  and  sing  again  and  we  will  give 
you  another  row  of  peas." 

So  the  grasshoppers  kept  dancing  and  singing 
until  the  girls  had  given  them  all  the  peas.  Then 


124    WHITE  CORN  AND  THE  GRASSHOPPERS 

the  grasshoppers  hopped  away  and  White  Corn 
and  Blue  Corn  went  back  into  the  house  without 
any  peas  for  supper. 

What  do  you  think  happened  to  White  Corn 
and  Blue  Corn  then?  They  were  spanked  and  put 
to  bed  without  any  supper.  Which  was  quite  the 
proper  thing,  don't  you  think? 


POH-VE   AND   PAH-DAY.     (SISTER  AND 
BROTHER) 

(Pueblo  Indian  Story  told  by  a  Hopi,  Second  Mesa) 

A  long  time  ago  in  the  land  of  the  Pueblo 
Indians,  an  Indian  girl  and  her  brother  lived  with 
their  father  and  step-mother  in  an  Indian  village 
beside  a  river.  The  brother  and  his  father  were 
away  from  home  most  of  the  time  looking  after 
their  sheep  and  cattle;  so  the  little  girl,  Poh-ve, 
was  left  alone  with  her  step-mother,  who  was  not 
very  kind  to  her.  She  was  not  happy  except 
when  her  brother,  Pah-day,  was  at  home.  These 
two  were  devoted  to  each  other,  but  since  Pah-day 
was  rarely  ever  at  home,  Poh-ve  was  very  sad. 

One  afternoon  Poh-ve's  step-mother  sent  her 
down  to  the  river  with  a  pretty  Indian  jar  to  get 
water.  "Get  out  of  my  sight,"  she  said,  "and 
when  you  come  back  bring  me  some  water!" 
Poh-ve  found  several  other  little  girls  down  at  the 


126  POH-VE  AND  PAH-DAY 

river,  so  she  set  the  jar  down  and  played  with 
them  all  afternoon.  Late  that  afternoon  when  she 
picked  up  her  water  jar  to  go  home,  it  fell  on  a 
stone  and  broke  into  pieces.  Her  step-mother  was 
very  angry  when  Poh-ve  returned 
home  so  late  and  without  the  jar,  so 
she  punished  her  severely. 
"I  did  not  mean  to  break  the  jar,"  thought 
Poh-ve,"  and  I  shall  run  away  and  leave  my  un- 
kind step-mother  tomorrow." 

So  early  the  next  morning  Poh-ve  went  down  to 
the  river.  She  walked  up  and  down  along  the 
river's  edge  until  she  found  a  place  that  she  could 
wade  across.  Then  she  went  across  the  river  for 
the  first  time.  She  looked  around  that  strange 
country  until  she  found  a  path,  which  she  followed. 
The  path  led  on  and  on  until  she  reached  a  lake. 
She  did  not  know  how  to  cross  the  lake;  but  she 
was  determined  not  to  go  back  to  her  mean  step- 
mother. Just  then  a  fox  came  along  with  a  bow 
and  arrow:  "Good-day,  little  Miss,  where  are  you 
going?"  asked  Mr.  Fox. 


POH-VE  AND  PAH-DAY  127 

"I  do  not  know  where  I  am  going,"  replied 
Poh-ve.  "My  step-mother  is  very  mean  to  me,  so 
I  am  going  away  to  live.  I  do  not  know  where  I 
am  going,  but  I  must  go  somewhere." 

"Well,  there  is  an  Indian  village  on  the  other 
side  of  the  lake.  The  Governor  of  that  village  is  a 
good  man.  You  will  find  him  in  his  corn  field  on 
the  west  side  of  the  village. 
Take  this  arrow  and  shoot  it 
across  the  lake.  Then  go  to  this 
Governor  and  tell  him  your 
story,  and  he  will  take  you  home 
to  live  with  his  little  girls." 

So  Poh-ve  took  the  arrOW  and      "Take  this  arrow  and  shoot 
.  it  across  the  lake" 

shot    it    across    the    lake.     The 

waters  separated  all  along  the  path  of  the  arrow, 

so  that  Poh-ve  could  cross  on  the  bottom  of  the 

lake.     She  found  the  Governor  just  as  the  fox  had 

told  her  and  told  him  her  story.     He  took  her  home 

to  his  house,  where  she  was  happy  with  his  little 

girls. 

Many  days  later  when  Pah-day  came  home  from 


128  POH-VE  AND  PAH-DAY 

minding    the    sheep,    he    asked    his    step-mother, 
"Where  is  Poh-ve?" 

"I  do  not  know,"  she  said,  "she  left  home  many 
days  ago  and  I  have  not  been  able  to  find  her 
since. " 

Pah-day  was  grieved  and  frightened,  so  he  set 
out  to  hunt  for  her.  After  a  long  time  he  found 
her  tracks  down  by  the  river  and  saw  where  she  had 
gone  across.  .  He  crossed  the  river,  too,  and  found 
the  same  path;  but  when  he  reached  the  lake  he 
did  not  know  what  to  do,  for  there  was  no  way  to 
get  across.  "Surely,  Poh-ve  could  not  have  gotten 
across  this  lake!  Where  shall  I  go  now?"  and 
Pah-day  sat  down  to  think. 

Then  a  voice  beside  him  said,  "Good-day,  young 
man,  what  makes  you  so  sad?"  He  looked  up  and 
saw  the  fox  with  his  bow  and  arrow. 

"I  am  sad,"  answered  Pah-day,  "because  I 
have  lost  my  sister  and  I  do  not  know  where  to 
look  for  her. " 

"What  is  she  like  and  when  did  you  lose  her?" 
asked  Mr.  Fox. 


POH-VE  AND  PAH-DAY  129 

Then  Pah-day  told  the  fox  what  Poh-ve  was  like 
and  when  she  had  gone  away. 

"There   is    a   village   on   the   other   side   of   this 
lake,"  said  Mr.   Fox,   "Take  this  bow  and  shoot 
this  arrow  across  the  lake.     Then 
go  to  the  house  of  the  Governor 
of  that  village  and  you  will  find 
your  sister. " 

So  Pah-day  shot  the  arrow 
across  the  lake,  and  again  the 
water  separated  along  the  path  of 
the  arrow,  so  that  he  could  go 
across  on  the  bottom  of  the  lake.  pah'Day  shf  *« arrow 

across  the  lake 

He  went  to  the  Governor  of  the 
village  just  as  the  fox   had   told  him  to  do.      He 
told  the  Governor  about  his  sister  and  asked,  "Is 
she  here?" 

"I  think  she  is,"  replied  the  Governor,  "Go 
into  the  house  where  all  the  village  girls  are  grind- 
ing corn  and  see  if  you  can  find  her.  If  she  wishes 
to  go  home  with  you,  you  may  take  her. " 

So  Pah-day  went  into  the  room  where  all  the 


130  POH-VE  AND  PAH-DAY 

girls  were  grinding  corn.  Poh-ve  saw  him  coming, 
so  she  held  her  head  down.  She  knew  he  had  come 
for  her,  and  she  did  not  want  to  go  home  to  be 
alone  with  her  step-mother  again.  Pah-day  looked 
at  all  of  the  girls,  but  he  did  not  see  his  sister 
because  her  head  was  down.  Then  he  sat  down 
and  mournfully  sang: 

"When  I  come  back  from  my  hunting 
And  when  I  come  back  with  the  sheep, 
There  is  no  one  to  greet  me  or  feed  me 
So  I  fall  on  my  face  and  weep." 

He  sang  so  sadly  and  looked  so  grieved  that 
Poh-ve  ran  to  him. 

"I  ran  away  from  our  mean  step-mother,  Pah- 
day,"  she  said,  "and  I  do  not  want  to  return 
to  her,  but  I  love  you  and  I  will  go  back  with 
you. " 

And  the  two  set  out  for  home  together.  When 
they  reached  the  lake  the  fox  was  waiting  for  them. 

"Here  are  the  bow  and  arrow,"  said  he. 

Pah-day  shot  the  arrow  across  the  lake  and  all 
three  of  them  went  across  together. 


Poh-ve   saw   him   coming,   so   she 
held  her  head  down. 


POH-VE  AND  PAH-DAY  131 

"You  may  have  your  choice  of  my  cattle,  Mr. 
Fox,  for  helping  me  find  my  sister. " 

So  they  took  the  fox  and  gave  him  a  fat  calf  to 
eat,  and  he  went  away  smacking  his  lips.  When 
they  crossed  the  river  their  father  and  step-mother 
ran  to  meet  them.  They  were  so  glad  to  find 
Poh-ve  alive  that  even  the  step-mother  was  pleased 
and  treated  her  kindly  ever  after. 


THUN-TSAY  AND  COHN-NAH 

(Laguna  Pueblo) 

Long,  long  time  ago  the  Laguna  Indians  used  to 
live  down  by  the  ocean.  One  of  the  Indian  men 
lived  alone  with  his  little  daughter  Thun-tsay 
(Sunlight).  Thun-tsay  did  not  have  a  mother. 
Her  father  thought  she  was  lonely,  so  he  brought 

a  new  mother  to  his  house. 
This  new  mother  had  a  little 
girl  of  her  own,  Cohn-nah 
(Darkness).  She  did  many 
nice  things  for  her  Cohn- 
nah;  but  she  treated  Thun-tsay  very  unkindly.  So 
Thun-tsay  used  to  run  away  from  her  step-mother 
down  to  the  beach,  and  make  herself  happy  gather- 
ing shells  and  playing  in  the  sand. 

One  day  she  found  a  little  fish  that  had  been 
left  in  a  pool  of  water  on  the  sand  when  the  tide 

went  out. 

13* 


THUN-TSAY  AND  COHN-NAH  133 

"Thun-tsay,"  said  the  little  fish,  "I  am  hungry. 
Won't  you  please  give  me  something  to  eat?" 

So  Thun-tsay  ran  home  and  got  bread  crumbs 
for  the  little  fish;  and  every  day  for  four  days  she 
fed  him.  On  the  fourth  day  he  asked  her,  "Please 
throw  me  back  into  the  ocean  and  I  will  give  you  a 
present. " 

Thun-tsay  picked  up  the  little  fish  and  threw  him 
back  into  the  ocean;  and  as  she  did  so 
he   said   to   her,   "Go  home  and   comb 
your  hair  and  you  will  find  my  present." 

Thun-tsay  ran  home  as  fast  as  she 
could  and  got  her  bunch  of  straw,  that 
she  brushed  and  combed  her  hair  with,  and  began 
brushing  it  at  once.  And  as  she  brushed  all  kind 
of  beautiful  things  fell  out.  She  was  rich  with  gifts 
and  she  had  plenty  to  share  with  her  father. 

When  her  step-mother  found  out  what  had 
happened  to  Thun-tsay,  she  sent  her  own  daughter 
Cohn-nah  down  to  the  beach  to  look  for  the  little 
fish,  so  that  he  might  give  Cohn-nah  presents,  too. 

She  found  the  little  fish  once  more  in  a  pool  of  water. 


134  THUN-TSAY  AND  COHN-NAH 

"Please  give  me  some  food,  Cohn-nah, "  asked 
the  little  fish,  "for  I  am  very  hungry." 

But  Cohn-nah  laughed  and  threw  sand  into  the 
water.  Then  she  went  away  and  left  the  little  fish. 

Next  day  Cohn-nah  went  down  to  the  beach 
where  the  little  fish  begged  again  for  food;  and 
again  she  threw  sand  at  him.  He  begged  her  on 
the  third  day  and  on  the  fourth  day  he  said, 
"Please  throw  me  back  into  the  ocean  and  I  will 
give  you  a  present.  Go  home  and  comb  your  hair 
and  you  will  find  my  present." 

Cohn-nah  picked  him  up  quickly  and  threw  him 
into  the  ocean.  Then  she  ran  home  and  told  her 
mother,  "Get  my  comb.  The  fish  has  promised 
me  a  present,  too."  But  when  Cohn-nah  combed 
her  hair,  it  all  fell  out  over  the  floor  and  there  were 
no  presents. 

Her  mother  was  angry  and  she  treated  Thun-tsay 
meaner  than  ever.  So  Thun-tsay  began  to  go  to 
the  beach  again  every  day  to  get  away  from  her 
step-mother. 

One  day  a  big  fish  came  up  out  of  the  water 


THUN-TSAY  AND  COHN-NAH  135 

near  her.  "Thun-tsay,"  he  said,  "I  am  the  little 
fish  that  you  fed.  I  have  grown  to  be  chief  of  the 
fishes  now.  Won't  you  come  down  into  the  ocean 
with  me  and  be  my  bride?  I  have  beautiful  things 
waiting  for  you." 

So  Thun-tsay 'jumped  into  the  ocean  and  went 
down  to  live  with  the  big  Fish-Chief. 
She  lived  happily  with  him  for  a  long 
time;  until  one  day  she  grew  homesick 
to  see  her  father. 

"Please  let  me  go  back  home  to  see 
my  father,  Fish-Chief?"  asked  Thun-tsay. 

"All  right,  you  may  go,"  said  Fish-Chief,"  and 
here  are  presents  to  take  to  him;  but  you  must  prom- 
ise me  to  come  back  again  at  the  end  of  six  months." 

"I  will  come  back,"  replied  Thun-tsay,  so  Fish- 
Chief  took  her  up  to  the  shore  and  she  went  home. 

She  found  her  father  so  sick  from  grieving  over 
Thun-tsay's  disappearance  that  even  her  step- 
mother was  glad  to  have  her  return.  Her  father 
got  well  and  Thun-tsay  was  again  so  happy  that 
she  forgot  all  about  her  promise  to  Fish-Chief. 


136  THUN-TSAY  AND  COHN-NAH 

But  one  day  as  she  was  walking  along  the  beach, 
she  saw  poor  Fish-Chief  lying  on  the  sand  almost 
dead.  He  was  grieving  himself  to  death.  Thun- 
tsay  ran  to  him. 

"I  can  not  live  without  you,  Thun-tsay.     It  is 

too  lonely  in  my  palace 
when  you  are  gone.  If 
you  do  not  go  back  into 

He  was  grieving  himself  to  death 

the  ocean  with  me,  I  shall 

die.  You  may  live  with  your  father  half  of  the 
time;  but  if  you  do  not  come  back  to  me  for  the 
other  half  I  cannot  live." 

So  Thun-tsay  went  back  with  Fish-Chief  and 
lived  happily  ever  after,  spending  half  of  the  time 
in  the  Fish  palace  and  half  of  the  time  with  her 
father. 


THE  MEADOW  LARK  AND  THE  FOX 

(Seama,  a  Laguna  Pueblo  and  Cochiti  Pueblo) 

Long,  long  ago,  in  the  time  of  my  grandfather's 
grandfather,  there  was  a  drought  over  all  of  the 
land.  A  fox  and  her  little  foxes  grew  very  thirsty; 
so  the  mother  fox  left  her  babies  to  go  far  away 


"Ha,  ha!"  laughed  Mrs.  Fox  and  spilled  all  of  her  water 

in  search  of  water.  She  found  a  spring;  and 
without  drinking  any  herself,  she  filled  her  mouth 
with  water  for  her  babies,  for  she  had  no  other 
way  to  carry  it,  and  her  babies  would  die  for  want 
of  water. 

As  she  was  setting  out  for  home  a  meadow  lark, 

137 


138    THE   MEADOW  LARK  AND   THE  FOX 

sitting  on  a  rock,  saw  her  and  sang,  "Fox,  fox  has 
a  sharp  mouth." 

"Ha,  ha!"  laughed  Mrs.  Fox  and  spilled  all  of 
her  water. 

Back  she  went  to  the  spring  and  filled  her  mouth 
again.  But  when  she  passed  the  meadow  lark,  the 
lark  sang  out,  "Fox,  fox  has  a  sharp  mouth." 
And  Mrs.  Fox  could  not  help  laughing  again.  She 
lost  all  of  the  water  in  a  big  spray. 

Once  more  she  went  back  to  the  spring  for  a 
mouthful  of  water.  She  thought  of  her  babies  and 
she  was  determined  not  to  spill  the  water  this 
time;  so  she  took  wet  clay  and  pasted  her  lips 
together.  She  wanted  to  glue  her  mouth  shut  so 
that  she  could  not  laugh  and  spill  the  water. 

"Now,  Miss  Meadow  Lark  can  try  all  she 
pleases  to  make  me  laugh,"  thought  Mrs.  Fox  and 
she  trotted  along  toward  her  babies. 

"Fox,  fox  has  a  sharp  mouth,"  once  more  sang 
Miss  Meadow  Lark. 

Mrs.  Fox  tried  hard  not  to  laugh;  but  Miss 
Meadow  Lark  twisted  her  head  on  one  side  and 


THE  MEADOW  LARK  AND  THE  FOX    139 

sang  again.  It  sounded  so  funny  that  Mrs.  Fox 
just  had  to  laugh.  "Crack"  went  the  clay  on  her 
lips  and  out  spilled  all  of  the  water. 

It  was  no  use  to  try  to  carry  water.  Mrs.  Fox 
just  rolled  and  rolled  over  with  laughter.  Finally 
she  got  up  and  went  home  still  laughing.  She  was 
laughing  so  that  she  had  forgotten  all  about  her 
babies.  What  a  poor  mother  she  was! 

But  when  she  reached  her  den,  her  laugh  changed 
into  a  wail  and  poor  Mrs.  Fox  rolled  over  and  over 
in  grief;  for  there  were  all  of  her  baby  foxes  dead 
for  want  of  water. 

Very  soon  she  grew  so  angry  at  the  meadow  lark 
that  she  wanted  to  go  right  away  and  eat  her  up. 
She  ran  as  fast  as  she  could  to  the  rock  where 
Miss  Meadow  Lark  had  been  sitting;  but  Miss 
Meadow  Lark  had  wisely  flown  away.  So  in  her 
temper  Mrs.  Fox  bit  the  rock  until  she  injured  her 
mouth  and  broke  all  of  her  teeth  off. 

Then  she  ran  back  to  the  spring  for  a  drink  of 
water,  for  by  this  time  she  was  nearly  famished. 
When  she  leaned  over  the  spring  to  drink,  there 


140    THE   MEADOW  LARK  AND  THE  FOX 

was  another  fox  in  the  water  with  blood  running 
out  of  her  mouth.  Mrs.  Fox  jumped  back  in 
horror,  "The  spring  is  poisoned,"  she  thought, 
"I  cannot  drink  there."  And  so  poor  Mrs.  Fox 
ran  away  and  died  herself  of  thirst. 


THE  FATE  OF  THE  BOY  WITCH 

(Hopi,  Second  Mesa) 

Once  upon  a  time — many,  many  years  ago, — two 
Indian  boys  were  in  love  with  the  same  girl, 
Man-nah.  One  of  the  boys,  Tee-yoh,  had  no 
mother  and  father.  He  lived  with  his  grandmother 
outside  of  the  village  and  they  were  very  poor. 
The  other  boy,  Poo-wah-ka,  was  a  boy  witch;  but, 
as  he  looked  just  like  any  other  Indian  boy,  nobody 
knew  that  he  was  a  witch.  He  lived  in  the  village. 

Every  day  for  many  days  Poo-wah-ka  went  to 
Man-nah's  house  to  talk  to  her,  but  Man-nah  did 
not  like  him  so  she  would  not  answer  him.  One 
day  when  Man-nah  was  grinding  corn  beside  her 
peep-hole  window,  Tee-yoh  came  to  the  window 
and  spoke  to  her.  Man-nah  liked  Tee-yoh  so  she 
talked  to  him.  So  for  many  days  Tee-yoh  came 
to  Man-nah's  house  to  see  her. 

This  made  Poo-wah-ka  jealous,   so  one  day  he 

141 


I42 

invited  Tee-yoh  to  go  hunting  with  him;  and  after 
they  had  been  hunting  for  a  while  Poo-wah-ka 
said: 

"I  tell  you  what  we  can  do,  Tee-yoh.  We  can 
change  ourselves  into  coyotes.  Then  the  rabbits 
will  not  hide  from  us  and  we  can  kill  lots  of  them. 
I  will  show  you  how  to  become  a  coyote." 

Then  Poo-wah-ka  took  a  hoop  that  he  had  been 
secretly  carrying  and  jumped  over  it.  Immediately 
he  changed  into  a  coyote.  He 
handed  the  hoop  to  Tee-yoh,  and 
as  Tee-yoh  jumped  over  it  he 
changed  into  a  coyote  too.  Then 
they  ran  off  in  different  directions  to  hunt  rabbits. 
Tee-yoh  killed  so  many  rabbits  that  he  could  not 
carry  them  all,  so  he  left  them  in  a  pile  beside  a 
rock  while  he  looked  for  Poo-wah-ka.  He  was 
ready  to  change  back  to  a  boy  and  go  home.  But 
he  could  not  find  Poo-wah-ka,  for  Poo-wah-ka  had 
been  hiding  and  watching  him.  He  had  not  killed 
any  rabbits.  As  soon  as  Tee-yoh  left  his  pile  of 
rabbits,  Poo-wah-ka  slipped  out  from  his  hiding 


THE  FATE  OF  THE  BOY  WITCH        143 

place  and  took  the  rabbits.  Then  he  jumped  over 
the  hoop,  changed  himself  back  into  a  boy  and  ran 
home  laughing  to  himself,  "Now  I  shall  have 
Man-nah  for  my  girl,  I  guess." 

He  left  poor  Tee-yoh  out  in  the  fields  without 
any  way  to  change  back  into  a  boy.  Tee-yoh  tried 
to  go  back  into  the  village  to  find  Poo-wah-ka  but 
the  dogs  chased  him  out.  His  grandmother  was 
worried  about  him  when  he  failed  to  come  home, 
so  she  went  to  ask  Poo-wah-ka  what  had  become 
of  him. 

"I  do  not  know  where  he  is,"  replied  Poo-wah-ka. 
"He  is  somewhere  in  the  fields  still  hunting." 

For  days  and  days  Tee-yoh  searched  for  Poo- 
wah-ka  and  for  the  hoop.  He  could  not  eat  raw 
meat  like  real  coyotes,  and  he  was  afraid  to  roast  the 
meat  in  case  the  Indians  might  see  the  smoke  of 
his  fire  and  shoot  him.  He  dared  not  go  back  to 
the  village  for  fear  of  the  dogs,  so  he  was  starving  to 
death.  Every  night  he  slept  in  the  middle  of  a  grass 
patch,  and  one  morning  he  was  so  weak  for  want  of 
food  that  he  could  not  get  up.  Tee-yoh  was  dying. 


144        THE  FATE  OF  THE  BOY  WITCH 

The  eagles  up  in  the  heavens,  who  see  and  know 
everything,  saw  Tee-yoh  in  his  distress.  They 
knew  what  had  happened,  so  they  sent  their 
swiftest  eagle  down  to  him.  Tee-yoh  heard  a 
thunderous  noise,  like  a  snare  drum  nearby.  He 
looked  up  quickly  and  saw  the  eagle  swoop  down 
beside  him.  "Do  not  be  afraid.  I  have  come  to 
help  you,  Tee-yoh.  You  changed  yourself  into  a 
coyote  because  you  believed  in  Poo-wah-ka  and 
thought  he  was  your  friend.  Here  is  a  little  corn 
meal  mush  to  strengthen  you.  Eat  it  quickly,  for 
we  must  hurry.  Right  now  Poo-wah-ka  is  talking 
to  Man-nah.  He  has  told  your  grandmother  that 
he  does  not  know  where  you  are,  and  she  is  sick 
with  grief.  Get  on  my  back,  the  eagles  are  waiting 
for  us." 

Tee-yoh  climbed  on  the  eagle's  back  and  he 
circled  around  and  around,  higher  and  higher  with 
him,  until  they  reached  the  eagles'  village  up  in  the 
heavens.  Up  there  the  eagle  messenger  took  him 
into  the  chief's  house. 

When   Tee-yoh    saw   the    eagle    men    and    eagle 


THE  FATE  OF  THE  BOY  WITCH        145 

women  and  the  eagle  boys  and  eagle  girls  all 
walking  around  without  their  eagle-feather  coats — 
for  the  eagles  took  off  their  feathered  coats  and 
hung  them  up  on  the  wall  when  they  were  in  their 
houses — he  was  frightened. 

"Do  not  be  afraid,  Tee-yoh.    You  are  welcome 


He  pulled  all  of  the  coyote  skin  off 

to  our  village  and  we  have  brought  you  here  to 
help  you,"  said  Eagle-Chief. 

The  eagle-messenger  brought  in  hot  water  and 
put  Tee-yoh  into  a  big  jar  full  of  it.  Then  Eagle- 
Chief  took  a  dried  herb  shaped  like  a  hook  and 
twisted  it  around  in  the  coyote  skin  on  top  of 
Tee-yoh's  head.  He  pulled  on  the  hook  and  pulled 


146        THE  FATE  OF  THE  BOY  WITCH 

all  of  the  coyote  skin  off,  so  that  Tee-yoh  was  a 

boy  once  more. 

The  eagles  washed  him  clean  and  gave  him  fine 

new  clothes  of  buckskin  and  eagle  feathers.     The 

eagle  girls  washed  and  combed  his  hair;  and  then 

they  all  had  a  big  feast  of  deer's  meat. 

There  were  white  mountains,  lovely  trees,  plenty 

of  deer   and  all   sorts  of  good  things   around   the 

eagle  village.  The  feast  lasted 
for  four  days.  Tee-yoh  had  a 
fine  time  and  grew  strong  and 

Herbs  shaped  like  hooks  well. 

Then  the  eagle  chief  told  him  it  was  time  for 
him  to  go  home.  They  gave  him  a  deer  which 
they  had  killed  for  him,  and  a  tiny  buckskin  bag 
of  herb-medicine. 

"When  you  reach  home,  Tee-yoh,"  said  the 
Eagle-Chief,  "Poo-wah-ka  will  be  the  first  person 
to  come  to  see  you.  Do  not  tell  him  where  you 
have  been;  but  invite  him  to  come  to  eat  deer's 
meat  with  you.  Then  when  he  comes  to  the  feast 
put  this  medicine  on  his  meat." 


THE  FATE  OF  THE  BOY  WITCH        147 

So  the  eagle  who  had  brought  Tee-yoh  up  into 
the  heavens  took  him,  with  his  deer,  on  his  back 
and  flew  down  to  the  edge  of  the  Indian  village. 
There  he  left  Tee-yoh. 

Tee-yoh  hurried  to  his  grandmother's  house  and 
found  her  lying  on  her  blankets  sick  from  grief; 
but  she  was  so  glad  to  see  her  grandson  that  she 
soon  grew  better. 

Sure  enough,  just  as  Eagle-Chief  had  told  him, 
Poo-wah-ka  was  the  first  person  to  come  to  see 
him.  He  was  surprised  to  see  Tee-yoh  for  he 
thought  that  he  was  still  a  coyote  if  he  were  not 
already  dead. 

"Where  have  you  been,  Tee-yoh?  We  have  been 
looking  for  you,"  said  Poo-wah-ka,  deceitfully. 

"Oh,  I  have  just  been  hunting  deer,"  replied 
Tee-yoh,  "I  have  a  fine  deer.  Come  over  to  my 
feast  tomorrow." 

Next  day  when  Poo-wah-ka  came  to  the  feast, 
Tee-yoh  did  as  Eagle-Chief  had  told  him  and  put 
the  medicine  on  his  meat;  and  when  Poo-wah-ka 
ate  the  meat  he  turned  into  a  coyote.  He  began 


148        THE  FATE  OF  THE  BOY  WITCH 

eating  like  an  animal  and  lapping  up  water  with 
his  tongue.  When,  he  did  Tee-yoh  picked  up  a 
stick  and  drove  him  outside.  The  dogs  in  the 
village  saw  him  and  chased  him  away  into  the 
fields.  He  could  never  come  back  again. 

Some    time    after    that    Tee-yoh    and    Man-nah 
were  married  and  lived  happily  ever  after. 


JUAN   HALF-BEAR 

PART  I 
(Cochiti  Pueblo) 

I  am  going  to  tell  you  something:  many,  many 
years  ago,  an  Indian  went  out  hunting  in  the 
mountains  and  lost  his  way.  For  days  he  wandered 
around  among  the  trees  and  at  night  slept  on  the 
ground,  until  he  grew  very  tired,  cold  and  hungry. 
Finally  one  evening  he  saw  smoke.  He  ran  swiftly 
over  to  the  place  whence  the  smoke  came,  and 
there  he  found  two  bears  cooking  their  evening 
meal. 

"I  am  lost,  Mr.  Bear,"  said  the  man,  "and  I  am 
starving  to  death.  Please  give  me  food  and  shelter 
for  the  night?" 

"You  are  welcome  to  our  home  and  board, 
Mr.  Man,"  replied  Mr.  Bear;  and  Mrs.  Bear  im- 
mediately gave  him  some  of  their  freshly  cooked 

supper. 

149 


150  JUAN  HALF-BEAR 

All  winter  the  bears  kept  the  man  in  their  cave- 
house  and  shared  their  food  with  him.  When  spring 
came  the  man  said,  "I  am  going  back  home  now. 
What  can  I  do  to  repay  you  for  all  of  your  kind- 
ness to  me?"  Mr.  Bear  replied,  "You  can  plant  a 

1 


In  the  fall  when  the  corn  was  ripe 

field  of  corn  for  our  food  next  winter  when  you  go 
back  to  the  Indian  village."  And  the  man  went 
back  to  the  village  and  planted  the  field  of  corn. 

In  the  fall  when  the  corn  was  ripe  for  gathering, 
the  man  said  to  the  Indians  in  the  village,  "I  am 
going  up  into  the  mountains  to  hunt  today.  To- 


JUAN  HALF-BEAR  151 

morrow  I  shall  bring  down  two  bears  to  my  corn 
field.  All  of  you  form  a  circle  around  the  field  and 
catch  them  when  they  come." 

So  the  man  set  out  for  the  bears'  house  in  the 
mountains.  When  he  reached  there,  he  found  two 
baby  bear  cubs  that  had  come  since  he  had  gone 
away.  "All  the  better,"  he  thought,  "now  we 
shall  have  four  bears  instead  of  two  to  eat  this 
winter. " 

He  spent  the  night  with  the  bears.  Early  the 
next  morning  he  said  to  them,  "Let  us  go  down  to 
the  corn  field  today,  for  it  is  ready  to  be  gathered. " 

The  bears  were  greatly  pleased;  so  Father  Bear, 
Mother  Bear  and  the  two  cub  Bears  walked  along 
happily  behind  the  man.  They  had  scarcely  gone 
into  the  corn  field  when  they  heard  a  loud  hunter's 
yell,  and  Indians  rushed  upon  them  from  all  sides 
writh  bows  and  arrows  and  tomahawks.  Father 
Bear  was  killed;  but  Mother  Bear  struck  the  man 
who  had  deceived  them  with  a  great  blow  of  her 
paw.  She  tore  open  his  chest,  snatched  out  his 
heart,  and  she  and  the  baby  bears  ran  safely  away. 


152  JUAN  HALF-BEAR 

When  they  reached  their  cave-home  in  the 
mountains  there  was  no  one  to  find  food  for  the 
family;  so  Mrs.  Bear  took  the  man's  heart  and 
changed  it  into  a  boy  that  was  half- 
man  and  half-bear  and  named  him  Juan 
Half-Bear. 

"Now,"    said  Mrs.   Bear   to   Juan, 
"you   have   the   virtues    of   the    man 

She  snatched  out 

his  heart  and    without  his  vices   and   also   the   good 

ran  away 

traits  of  the  bear.  I  will  teach  you 
to  hunt;  and  after  you  have  provided  us  with  food 
enough  to  atone  for  the  trouble  your  wicked  heart 
caused  us,  you  shall  be  free  to  go  wherever  you 
please." 

So  Juan  helped  the  bears  for  many  years  until  he 
grew  into  young  manhood  and  then  he  went  away 
to  seek  his  fortune. 


JUAN  HALF-BEAR 
PART  II 

(Cochiti  Pueblo) 

I  am  going  to  tell  you  something:  once  upon  a 
time  an  Indian  man  and  woman  lived  near  the 
village  of  Kotyete.  They  had  a  good  home,  cattle, 
sheep,  corn  fields,  chickens,  skins  and  blankets;  but 
they  had  no  children.  They  were  growing  old. 
Every  day  they  prayed  to  the  Great  Spirit  to  send 
them  a  son,  so  that  they  might  have  someone  to 
leave  all  of  their  good  things  to  when  they  passed 
away  to  the  Great  Spirit's  home.  They  went  to  all 
of  the  sacred  dances  and  always  prayed  for  a  son. 

There  also  lived  near  Kotyete  a  young  man,  who 
was  half  boy  and  half  bear.  It  was  Juan  Half- 
Bear;  but  none  of  the  Indians  had  ever  seen  him, 
for  he  hid  away  in  the  mountains.  One  day  when 
the  man  and  woman  were  in  the  village  dancing  in 

a  sacred  dance,  this  half-boy  and  half-bear  went  to 

153 


154  JUAN  HALF-BEAR 

their  house.  He  wanted  to  live  among  the  Indians; 
so  he  crawled  into  an  open  window  to  look  around 
and  see  how  they  lived,  so  that  he  might  do  like- 
wise. But  while  he  was  in  there  he  heard  the  man 
and  woman  coming  home,  so  he  hid 
himself  under  a  pile  of  blankets. 
The  old  people  knelt  down  beside 
that  same  pile  of  blankets  to  say 
their  daily  prayer  for  a  son. 

"Great  Spirit,  we  have  tried  to 
live  at  peace  with  all  of  our  brothers; 
we  have  worshiped  you  in  dance  and 
in  song;  please  send  to  us  a  son  to 
take  care  of  and  keep  all  of  the  good 
things  you  have  given  us!" 

Then  as  they  were  getting  up,  the 
old  woman  saw  the  boy  under  the 
blankets.     She   was   frightened   and 
called  to  her  husband  to  "Look!" 

"Do  not  be  afraid,"  said  the  boy,  "I  am  Juan 
Half-Bear.  I  have  come  to  be  your  son.  I  have  a 
home  with  many  skins  in  it.  Let  the  old  man 


Juan  Half-Bear 


JUAN  HALF-BEAR  155 

come  with  me  and  I  will  show  them  to  him;  and 
then  if  he  is  pleased  with  me,  I  shall  come  to  live 
with  you  and  be  that  son  for  whom  you  have  been 
praying. " 

So  the  old  man  went  with  Juan  Half-Bear  to  his 
home  in  the  mountains.  In  the  first  room  that 
they  entered  there  was  nothing;  but  in  the  next 
room  there  were  many  skins  just  as  Juan  had  said. 
Juan  seemed  to  be  good  and  capable,  so  the  old 
man  took  him  back  home  with  him. 

"Wife,"  said  he,  "I  like  Juan  Half-Bear.  He 
seems  a  good  boy  and  thrifty,  for  he  has  many 
skins;  so  I  have  brought  him  home  with  me  to  be 


our  son.' 


Many  days  after  that,  all  of  the  young  Indian 
men  of  the  village,  including  Juan  Half-Bear,  went 
out  on  a  hunt  to  get  meat  for  food  and  skins  for 
clothing  and  beds.  They  camped  up  in  the  moun- 
tains and  every  day  a  young  man  was  left  in  camp, 
while  the  others  hunted,  to  cook  for  the  hunters 
and  to  watch  the  game  that  had  been  killed. 

Each  day  for  four  davs  the  young  man  who  was 


156  JUAN  HALF-BEAR 

left  in  camp  mysteriously  fell  asleep  while  their 
food  was  cooking;  and  something,  that  made  no 
noise  and  left  no  tracks,  came  and  stole  all  of  the 
food  and  all  of  the  game  that  had  been  killed. 
Each  day  the  young  men  promised  and  deter- 
mined not  to  go  to  sleep;  but  each  day  something 
made  them  go  to  sleep  against  their  will. 

On  the  Fifth  day  Juan  Half-Bear's  turn  came  to 
stay  in  camp.  "I  shall  not  go  to  sleep,"  he  said 
"and  I  shall  find  out  what  this  is  stealing  all  of 
our  things. " 

So  Juan  set  to  work  to  build  a  fire  and  cook 
some  deer  meat.  Suddenly  he  felt  himself  growing 
very  sleepy  on  his  man's  side.  He  grew  so  sleepy 
that  he  had  to  lie  down  and  let  his  man's  side  go  to 
sleep;  but  his  bear's  eye  stayed  wide  awake. 

Very  soon  a  witch-giant  came  out  of  the  woods 
and  took  away  all  of  the  meat  and  the  deers  that 
had  been  killed.  Juan  Half-Bear  jumped  up  and 
followed  him.  The  giant  went  into  a  big  cave. 
The  floor  of  the  cave  was  covered  with  prickly 
cactuses.  The  needles  on  the  cactuses  stuck  Juan's 


JUAN  HALF-BEAR  157 

man-leg  so  bad  that  he  could  not  stand  the  pain  in 
that  leg;  but  they  could  not  hurt  his  hairy  bear- 
leg,  so  Juan  hopped  on  his  bear-leg  and  followed 
the  giant  through  the  cactuses.  When  the  giant 
saw  Juan  following  him  he  laughed  "Ha,  Ha!" 
in  a  loud  terrible  voice;  for  he  thought  that  he 
could  soon  put  an  end  to  Juan.  Then  the  giant 
rolled  a  stone  away  from  the  door  and  went  into 
another  room.  He  thundered  to  Juan,  "Now 
follow  me  in  here  if  you  dare!"  Juan  did  dare  to 
follow  him;  but  just  as  he  entered  the  door  two 
mountain  lions  jumped  at  him.  Juan  turned  his 
bear  side  to  the  lions  and  killed  them  both. 

The  giant  went  into  another  cave  room.  Juan 
went  in,  too.  He  was  determined  to  catch  and 
kill  that  giant  and  take  back  the  Indians'  deer 
from  him.  Two  more  mountain  lions  sprang  at 
Juan;  but  Juan  was  too  quick  for  them  and  he 
killed  them,  also.  Then  he  grabbed  the  giant  and 
killed  him  in  a  big  bear  hug. 

In  that  last  room  Juan  found  many  fine  skins 
and  all  the  deer  that  the  witch  giant  had  stolen. 


158  JUAN   HALF-BEAR 

He  took  all  the  things  that  he  found  back  to  camp 
with  him. 

When  the  hunters  returned  he  had  delicious 
roasted  meat  ready  for  them.  He  told  them  about 
the  witch-giant  and  shared  with  them  all  the  things 
he  had  brought  from  the  cave. 

So  when  the  hunters  returned  home,  the  Indians 
had  a  big  buffalo  and  deer  dance;  and  they  made 
Juan  Half-Bear  their  great  War-Chief. 


(Picuris  Pueblo) 

Once  upon  a  time  an  Indian  lived  all  alone  away 
up  in  the  North,  where  it  snows  and  rains  all  the 
time  and  is  very  cold  indeed.  He  went  south  and 
married  a  wife.  He  brought  her  to  his  home  to 
keep  him  company;  but  she  soon  died  because  of 
the  cold. 

The  Indian  was  so  lonely  after  that  that  he  went 
out  in  search  of  another  wife.  This  time  he  went 
to  the  East.  After  he  had  been  traveling  for  a 
long  distance,  he  went  up  on  a  hill  and  looked  all 
around.  He  saw  smoke,  so  he  went  to  see  whence 
it  came;  and  he  found  a  little  house  where  a  young 
girl  lived  all  alone. 

"Come  in,"  she  said,  when  he  knocked  on  her 
door.  She  was  lonely  too;  so  when  the  man  asked 

her  to  go  to  live  with  him  and  be  his  wife,  she  went. 

159 


160    THE  MAN  FROM  THE  NORTH 

Soon  after  they  reached  the  man's  house  away 
up  north,  the  man  showed  his  wife  where  the  corn 
was,  so  that  she  could  grind  some  into  meal  for 
bread,  while  he  went  out  to  hunt  to  get  meat  for 
their  dinner. 

The  new  wife  sat  down  behind  the  grinding 
stones  and  tried  to  grind  some  of  the  corn,  but  her 
fingers  soon  grew  too  stiff  from  the  cold.  She  grew 
colder  and  colder;  and  when  the  man  came  back 
from  hunting  he  found  her  frozen  to  death. 

So  again  the  man  set  out,  to  find  a  third  wife. 
This  time  he  traveled  to  the  West.  He  walked  for 
many  days  until  he  came  to  a  woman  hoeing  corn. 
He  looked  tired,  so  the  woman  invited  him  to  come 
into  her  house  and  rest  a  while.  She  called  to  her 
daughter  to  cook  something  for  the  stranger  to  eat. 
While  he  was  eating  he  watched  the  young  girl  as 
she  moved  about  the  house,  and  he  liked  her  very- 
much.  When  he  finished  his  meal  he  asked  the  girl: 

"Won't  you  go  with  me  to  my  house  in  the 
north  and  be  my  wife?" 

"No,  I  am  sorry  but  I  do  not  wish  to  go,"  she 


THE  MAN  FROM  THE  NORTH          161 

said.     But  her  mother  liked  the  stranger,  so  she 
made  her  daughter  go  with  him. 

While  they  were  journeying  northward  the  sad- 
hearted  girl  heard  some  one  calling  her.  She 
looked  all  around  and  finally  she  saw  a  turtle. 

"Where  are  you  going,  my 
sister?"  asked  Mrs.  Turtle,  "and 
why  do  you  look  so  sad?" 

"I  am  going  into  the  cold 
Northland,"  replied  the  girl,  "to 
be  the  wife  of  that  man  walking 

"Take  this  herb  with  you" 

in  front  of  me.  He  is  good  to  me; 
but  I  am  unhappy  because  I  do  not  want  to  go  and 
my  mother  has  forced  me  to.  I  am  afraid  of  the  cold." 
"Do  not  be  unhappy  and  do  not  be  afraid," 
said  Mrs.  Turtle,  "Take  this  herb  with  you;  and 
when  you  reach  your  new  home,  make  some  tea  of 
it  and  sprinkle  the  tea  in  all  directions."  The  girl 
took  the  herb  and  journeyed  on  to  her  new  home. 
When  the  man  went  out  to  hunt,  she  did  as  Mrs. 
Turtle  had  told  her;  and,  behold,  the  house  grew  warm 
and  comfortable  and  the  girl  was  happy  ever  after. 


THE  DEER  AND  THE  COYOTE 

(Jemez  Pueblo) 

Wen-ter  —  once  upon  a  time  —  long  ago,  six  deer 
were  lying  in  the  sand  talking  and  resting. 

"Let  us  go  up  on  the  mountain  top  and  dance," 
suggested  one  of  the  deer. 

"All  right,"  said  the  others,  and  they  went  to  a 
broad  sandy  place  on  the  mountain  top  and  began 
to  dance  and  sing: 


Er  -  she  -  ah  -  rah,  kay  -  yah  -  ah  -  nah,   kay  -  yah  -  ah  -  nah. 
"We   are  hap-py,  hap  -  py,  hap-py,    hap  -  py,  hap-py. 


Er  -    she  -  ah  -  rah,     kay  -  yah  -  ah  -  nah,     kay  -  yah  -  ah. 
We       are    hap  -  py,      hap  -    py,  hap  -  py-     hap    -  py      wel 


Kah  -  shee  -  ee-  nah,     PSn  -  pi  -  tah,     Shee  -  ee  -  nah,    Hay.hay. 
We    dance  and  sing     joy-  ful    -    ly-       It         isspring-Hay.hayl" 

162 


THE  DEER  AND  THE  COYOTE    163 

Mr.  Coyote  heard  the  deer  singing,  so  he  ran  up 
on  the  mountain. 

"Good-day,  Messrs.  Deer,  how  happy  and  cheer- 
ful you  sound.  Let  me  dance  with  you." 

"I  am  sorry,"  replied  the  Chief  of  the  Deer, 
"but  nobody  can  dance  with  us  who  hasn't  antlers 
on  his  head." 

"Won't  you  make  me  some  antlers,  so  that  I  can 
dance?"  asked  Mr.  Coyote. 


"Won't  you  make  me  some  antlers?" 

"Certainly,  I  can  do  that,"  replied  Deer-Chief. 
So  he  took  a  sharp  stone  and  sharpened  the  ends 
of  two  sticks;  and  then  he  hammered  the  sharp 
ends  of  the  sticks  into  the  coyote's  head  to  make 
antlers  for  him. 

Then  Mr.  Coyote  joined  in  the  dance,  expecting 
very  soon  to  grab  one  of  the  little  deer  and  run  away 


164          THE  DEER  AND  THE  COYOTE 

with  it;  but  he  only  danced  around  the  circle  once 
before  he  dropped  in  a  faint  from  the  sticks  in  his 
head. 

He  rolled  over  and  over  down  the  mountain  side 
until  he  was  covered  with  bruises,  and  he  had  to 
rub  himself  with  herbs  for  many  moons. 


THE    BOY   AND    THE    PIG 

(Seama,  a  Laguna  Pueblo) 

Once  upon  a  time  there  lived  at  Laguna  a  lazy, 
kind-hearted  boy.  He  lived  alone  with  his  grand- 
mother. Every  day  she  begged  him  to  go  help  the 
other  boys  cut  wood  or  work  in  the  corn  fields;  but 
the  boy  would  not  go.  So  he  did  not  have  the 
good  things  that  the  other  boys  had  who  worked. 
Instead  he  was  always  poor  and  ragged;  but  he 
was  always  generous  with  what  he  had. 

One  day  as  he  was  idly  walking  outside  the 
village,  he  saw  a  pig. 

"Please  scratch  my  back  for  me,  Boy,"  asked 
the  pig.  "I  have  begged  everyone  who  passed  and 
no  one  will  scratch  it  for  me."  And  the  boy 
scratched  the  pig's  back  for  a  long  time. 

The  next  day  he  scratched  the  pig's  back  again, 
but  he  did  not  seem  happy. 

"Why  are  you  so  sad,  Boy?"  asked  the  pig. 

165 


i66  THE  BOY  AND  THE  PIG 

"I  am  sad,"  replied  the  boy,  "because  today 
is  the  Sia  feast  day,  and  I  want  very  much  to  go  to 
the  dance;  but  I  have  no  way  to  go." 

"Take  that  whip  lying  there,"  said  the  pig, 
"and  strike  me  across  the  back." 

"Oh,  I  cannot  do  that!"  said  the  boy;  but  the 
pig  insisted,  so  the  boy  took 
the  whip  and  struck  the  pig 
across  the  back.  Immediately 
a  fine  horse  appeared,  and  the 
boy's  ragged  clothes  changed  into  a  new  beaded 
buckskin  suit.  He  mounted  the  horse  and  rode 
happily  away  to  Sia. 

When  he  returned  home  that  night  his  grand- 
mother asked,  "Where  have  you  been  all  day 
today,  my  grandson?" 

"I  have  been  to  Sia  to  the  feast,"  he  said. 

"That  cannot  be  true  for  you  had  no  way  to 
go,"  replied  his  grandmother,  and  so  she  did  not 
believe  that  he  had  gone.  She  grieved  because  she 
thought  her  grandson  was  not  truthful. 

Four  days  later  when  the  boy  was  with  the  pig, 


THE  BOY  AND  THE  PIG  167 

the  pig  asked  him  again,  "why  are  you  so  sad 
today,  Boy?" 

"I  am  sad  because  I  fell  in  love  with  the  Chief's 
pretty  daughter  at  Sia,  and  I  am  too  poor  to  ask 
her  to  marry  me." 

Again  the  pig  told  him,  "Take  that  whip  and 
strike  me  across  the  back  with  it." 

The  boy  did  as  he  was  told;  and  this  time  two 
fine  horses  appeared  and  the  boy's  clothes  were 
once  more  changed  into  fine  new  buckskins.  He 
mounted  one  of  the  horses  and  led  the  other  horse 
over  to  Sia. 

He  went  straightway  to  the  Chief's  house  and 
asked  him  for  his  daughter.  The  boy  looked  so 
fine  and  had  such  good  horses,  that  the  Chief  told 
him  at  once  that  he  might  have  his  daughter.  The 
daughter  was  willing  to  go,  too,  so  they  rode  back 
to  Laguna. 

When  they  reached  there  the  pig  had  disappeared; 
and  in  the  place  where  he  had  been  a  house,  with 
cattle  outside  and  with  blankets  inside,  awaited  the 
boy  and  his  bride. 


THE   FOX  AND  THE   CROWS 

(Taos  Pueblo} 

Once  upon  a  time  a  group  of  jolly,  happy  crows 
were  playing  leaf-ball  in  the  forest.  They  were 
having  such  a  good  time  when  Mr.  Fox  came 
slipping  along.  The  crows  saw  him  and  started  to 
fly  away. 

"Oh  do  not  go  away,"  called  Mr.  Fox,  "I  only  came 

to  play  ball  with  you." 

"Well,  you  will  have  to 
have  a  ball  to  play  with," 
said  the  crows,  and  they 
jumped  upon  his  head 
and  picked  out  one  of  his 

Mr.  Fox  trying  to  catch  his  eye 


They  tossed  the  eye  from  one  crow  to  another, 
laughing  at  poor  Mr.  Fox,  who  was  jumping  around 
in  all  directions  trying  to  catch  his  eye.  When 
they  grew  tired  of  playing,  they  hid  the  fox's  eye 

168 


THE  FOX  AND  THE  CROWS  169 

and  all  of  their  leaf-balls;  and  flew  away,  cawing  as 
they  went,  "We  don't  want  to  play  with  you,  old 
Fox.  You  are  too  mean.  Keep  away  from  here." 
And  poor  Mr.  Fox  was  left  searching  for  his 
hidden  eye  and  grieving  himself  sick. 


THE   RABBIT   AND   THE   CROW 

(Jemez   Pueblo) 

Once  upon  a  time  a  rabbit  lived  all  alone.  Some 
times  he  felt  very  lonely.  One  day  when  he  was 
lonely  he  picked  up  his  drum  and  went  outside  to 
sing.  He  sang: 


Way-low,  way-low,  tarn  -  bg  -  ch.  Yah -ee- yah -ee-yah;  tarn  -be  -eh. 
Sadness,  sad-ness,  go       a  -  way.  Tra  -  a  -  la  -  a  -  la,   go       a  -  way 

A  crow  was  flying  near  by  and  heard  Mr.  Rabbit 
singing  and  beating  his  drum.  He  flew  down  at 
once : 

"That  drum  annoys  me,  Mr.  Rabbit.  You  shall 
not  beat  it,"  said  Mr.  Crow.  Then  he  caught 
Mr.  Rabbit's  right  arm,  pulled  it  out  and  ate  it. 

Next  day  Mr.  Rabbit  came  out  of  his  hole  and 
beat  the  drum  with  his  left  arm  as  he  sang  his 
song. 

The  crow  heard  him  again.     He  flew  down  and 

170 


THE  RABBIT  AND  THE  CROW          171 

pulled   out   Mr.    Rabbit's    left    arm    and    ate   that 
up. 

"I  told  you  not  to  beat  that  drum,"  he  said. 
On   the   third   day  Mr.   Rabbit  beat   the   drum 
with  his  right  foot,  and  Mr.  Crow  flew  down  and 
ate  his  right  foot  up.     And  on  the 
fourth  day  he  ate  up  the  rabbit's 
left  foot. 

So  the  fifth  day  Mr.  Rabbit  came  out  to  sing. 
He  beat  the  drum  with  his  head.  Immediately 
Mr.  Crow  heard  him  and  flew  down.  He  bit  off 
Mr.  Rabbit's  head  and  ate  it;  and  then  he  picked 
up  what  was  left  of  poor  Mr.  Rabbit  and  carried 
him  up  to  his  baby  crows  in  the  nest. 


THE  FATE  OF  THE  WITCH  WIFE 

(Seama  Pueblo,   San  Juan  Pueblo,  Sia  Pueblo  and 
Hopi,  Second  Mesa) 

A  long  time  ago  a  woman  named  White  Corn 
spent  all  of  her  days  cooking.  She  would  cook 
piles  of  food  that  she  never  offered  to  her  husband, 
Redflower;  but  since  the  food  always  disappeared, 
Redflower  began  to  wonder  what  became  of  it. 
So  one  evening  he  decided  that  he  would  watch 
the  pile  of  food  and. see  where  it  went.  He  took 
off  his  moccasins  at  bedtime  and  lay  down  as 
usual  on  his  blankets.  Then  he  pretended  to  go  to 
sleep.  White  Corn  waited  until  she  thought  he 
was  asleep,  then  she  took  out  her  eyes,  put  them 
under  her  blankets,  put  owl's  eyes  in  their  place, 
and  then  put  an  ear  of  corn  down  on  the  blankets 
beside  Redflower.  "Corn,"  she  said,  "if  Redflower 

should    say    anything    to    me    during    the    night, 

172 


THE  FATE  OF  THE  WITCH  WIFE        173 

answer  him  for  me."  After  that  she  put  all  of 
the  food  she  had  cooked  into  a  basket  and  went 
out. 

Outside  an  owl  met  her  and  the  two  walked 
away  across  the  prairie  together. 

Redflower  jumped  up  off  his  blankets  and 
followed  them.  After  a  long  walk  they  went  into  a 
cave,  where  there  were  many  other  people  all  with 
owl's  eyes;  for  they  were  all  witches.  The  witches 
had  taken  off  their  blankets  when  they  went  into 
the  cave  and  thrown  them  into  a  big  pile  by  the 
door.  Redflower  slipped  quietly  into  the  cave  and 
hid  himself  under  the  blankets. 

Very  soon  the  Chief-Witch  called  the  council  to 
order.  "Ha,"  he  cried,  "I  smell  fresh  blood.  I 
smell  human  flesh.  There  is  a  man  inside.  Let 
us  find  him!",  and  so  the  witches  began  to 
look  everywhere  for  the  man.  They  discovered 
Redflower  under  the  blankets  and  pulled  him 
out. 

"Why  do  you  hide,  Brother?"  said  the  Chief- 
Witch,  "You  are  welcome  to  our  council;  but 


174        THE  FATE  OF  THE  WITCH  WIFE 

first  you  must  bring  to  us  the  heart  of  the  per- 
son whom  you  love  best  of  all  in  the  world. 
That  is  the  price  you  must  pay  for  having  come 
among  us.  Hurry  and  return  with  it  before  day- 
break." 

Redflower  went  away  very  sad.  He  dared  not 
disobey  the  witches,  for  it  would  mean  torture  and 
death  to  him  to  do  so.  He  loved  his  sister  better 
than  anyone  else,  and  he  could  not  kill  her  in  order 
to  take  her  heart  to  the  witches.  "What  must 
he  do!"  Then  he  remembered  his  big  red  rooster. 
He  hated  to  kill  his  rooster;  but  he  had  to  carry  a 
freshly  bleeding  heart  to  the  witches,  so  he  went 
to  the  chicken  house  and  killed  him. 

When  he  returned  to  the  witches'  cave  with  the 
heart,  there  were  other  new  members  there  with 
freshly  bleeding  hearts. 

"Now  that  you  have  brought  the  hearts  of  the 
persons  whom  you  love  best,"  said  Chief-Witch, 
"you  must  be  initiated  into  our  order  by  passing 
with  us  under  the  rainbow  at  the  other  end  of  the 
cave." 


THE  FATE  OF  THE  WITCH  WIFE         175 

The  witches  all  formed  in  line  and  passed  under 
the  rainbow.  Each  witch  turned  into  an  animal. 
There  were  coyotes,  foxes,  bears,  hawks  and  owls. 
When  Redflower  passed  under  he  became  a 
coyote. 

"Now,  animals  and  friends,  let  us  test  the  new 
hearts,"  and  Chief-Witch  took  a  sharp  stick  and 
thrust  it  into  each  of  the  newly  brought  in  hearts. 
The  other  hearts  cried  out  like  humans  in  agony; 
but  Redflower's  heart  squawked  like  a  rooster. 

"He  has  deceived  us!"  cried  all  of  the  witches. 
But  they  went  on  with  their  ceremonies.  After  a 
short  time,  however,  the  witches  told  Redflower 
that  he  might  go  to  sleep,  since  he  was  not  yet 
accustomed  to  staying  awake  all  night;  so  they 
fixed  a  bed  of  blankets  for  him,  and  he  went  to 
sleep. 

While  Redflower  was  asleep  the  witches  took  him 
and  laid  him  on  a  narrow  shelf  of  rock  half  way 
down  a  steep  cliff  at  Grand  Canyon,  and  left  him 
there.  When  Redflower  awoke  and  found  himself 
in  such  a  perilous  position,  for  he  could  not  even 


176        THE  FATE  OF  THE  WITCH  WIFE 

move  or  he  would  have  fallen  off  onto  the  rocks  far 
below,  he  began  to  mournfully  sing: 


Plaintiflv 


Schuh  -  nigh-ee-yer,  Schuh-quee-ee-trer,  Coo-oo  -  tee  -  ee-kah  -  ah  -  shah- 


Schuh  -  nigh-ee-yer,  Schuh-quee-ee-trer,     So  -  oh  cah-ah-quee-  ee  -  cher 


xnah-de-ee  -  ah-chah-ter,  coo-chee  -  ee-nah,  Coo  -  oo-nigh-ter-meh-ee-eh. 

"Mother,  Sister,  she  will  harm  me. 
Mother,  Sister,  she  will  take  my  heart  out. 
It  will  kill  me  to  take  my  heart  out. 
White  Corn  will  harm  me!" 

The  little  chipmunks  in  their  village  among  the 
cliffs  heard  Redflower  singing.  They  ran  out  of 
their  houses  in  such  a  hurry  to  see  what  the  noise 
was,  that  they  ran  over  Grandmother  Chipmunk's 
freshly  moulded  pottery  and  spoiled  it  all. 

"Go,"  said  Grandmother  Chipmunk  to  one  of 
the  chipmunk  boys,  "and  see  who  that  is  in 
trouble!  Perhaps  we  may  be  able  to  help  him." 


THE  FATE  OF  THE  WITCH  WIFE 


177 


So  Chipmunk  ran  up  the  cliff  to  Redflower. 
Redflower  told  him  what  had  happened,  and  Chip- 
munk hurried  down  into  the  canyon  to  Grand- 
mother Spider. 


i 

The  little  Chipmunks  ran  over  Grandmother's  freshly  moulded  pottery  and 

spoiled  it 

"Grandmother  Spider,"  he  said,  "the  witches 
have  left  Redflower  on  a  ledge  of  rock  to  die. 
What  shall  we  do?" 

Grandmother  Spider  hurried  into  the  house  and 
brought  out  an  acorn  of  water  and  an  acorn  cup  of 
corn  meal  mush.  "First  of  all,"  she 
said,  "take  this  to  him  and  tell  him  to 
eat.  Then  come  back  to  me." 

Chipmunk  took  the  acorns  to  Redflower. 

"Oh,  Chipmunk,  I  am  starving!     This  will  not 


iy8        THE  FATE  OF  THE  WITCH  WIFE 

even  be  a  taste  for  me;  but  I  thank  you  just  the 


same." 


"Grandmother  Spider  says  eat  it,"  replied  Chip- 
munk and  then  he  ran  back  to  the  Spider  village. 

Redflower  ate  and  ate  and  drank  and  drank  until 
he  had  a  plenty,  and  still  the  acorn  cup  and  the 
acorn  were  full  of  mush  and  water. 

When  Chipmunk  returned  he  brought  with  him 
a  pine  seed.  He  dropped  it  straight  down  to  the 
bottom  of  the  canyon  from  the  shelf  where  Red- 
flower  was,  and  immediately  a  pine  tree  began  to 
grow.  "The  witches  will  come  this  evening," 
said  Chipmunk,  "and  drop  food  down  from  above. 
They  want  you  to  try  to  catch  it  so  that  you  will 
fall  off  and  be  killed.  Grandmother  Spider  says 
for  you  to  shut  your  eyes  and  pretend  to  be  asleep 
when  they  come,  and  do  not  reach  out  for  the  food 
they  drop." 

Sure  enough  that  evening  the  witches  came  and 
dropped  buckskin  bags  of  food  down  the  cliff,  but 
Redflower  kept  perfectly  still  until  they  went  away. 

The    next    day    Chipmunk    brought    fresh    food. 


THE  FATE  OF  THE  WITCH  WIFE         179 

"Beware  of  the  witches  again  tonight,"  he  said. 
Then  he  ran  up  and  down  the  growing  pine  tree, 
chanting  a  song  as  he  ran  and  the  tree  grew  and 
grew. 

The  witches  came  again  that  night  and  dropped 
more  food  over  the  cliff;  but  Redflower  kept  his 
eyes  closed.  He  heard  Chief-Witch  say,  "Jt  is 
strange  that  Redflower  is  not  hungry.  He  does  not 
even  try  to  catch  the  food.  He  is  not  dead  for  I 
can  smell  his  fresh  blood.  Let  us  plan  some  other 
way  to  get  rid  of  him."  And  the  witches  went 
away. 

The  third  day  Chipmunk  came  again  with  food 
from  Grandmother  Spider.  This  time  he  brought 
with  him  some  herb  medicine.  "The  witches  will 
come  tonight  as  snakes,"  said  Chipmunk,"  and  will 
crawl  down  and  try  to  push  you  off  this  ledge. 
Take  this  herb  juice.  When  the  witches  come 
down,  sprinkle  it  on  them."  Then  Chipmunk  ran 
up  and  down  the  big  pine  tree  chanting  his  little 
song  and  the  tree  continued  to  grow  and  grow. 

That    night   the   witches    came.     Two   of   them 


i8o        THE  FATE  OF  THE  WITCH  WIFE 

were  snakes,  who  crawled  down  the  face  of  the 
cliff  to  Redflower  to  push  him  off  onto  the  rocks 
below;  but  Redflower  sprinkled  them  with  the  herb 
juice  and  both  of  them  fell  dead,  away  down  into 
the  canyon.  Then  the  other  witches  were  afraid 
and  ran  away. 

The  next  morning  the  tree  had  grown  up  to 
where  Redflower  was  lying.  Chipmunk  came  early 
and  ran  down  the  tree,  but  the  top  bent  under  his 
weight.  He  ran  down  four  times  chanting;  and  each 
time  the  tree  grew  stronger  and  stronger,  until  after 
the  fourth  time  it  was  strong  enough  to  hold  up 
Redflower. 

"Come  on,"  said  Chipmunk  to  him,  "Grand- 
mother Spider  is  waiting  for  us." 

So  Chipmunk  and  Redflower  climbed  down  the 
pine  tree  and  went  to  the  Spiders'  village  in  the 
canyon. 

Old  Grandmother  Spider  met  them  at  her  door: 
"Come  in,"  she  said,  "I  have  been  waiting  for  you 
and  I  have  a  feast  already  prepared." 

For  four  days  Redflower  stayed  with  the  spiders 


THE  FATE  OF  THE  WITCH  WIFE         181 

in  their  village.  They  gave  him  good  food  and  new 
clothes  of  buckskin.  On  the  fourth  day  Grand- 
mother Spider  said  to  him,  "It  is  time  now  for  you 
to  go  back  to  your  home.  Take  this  shiny  disc 
with  you  and  wear  it  on  your  breast.  When  your 


The  spider's  village 

wife  sees  you  and  begs  for  it,  roll  it  to  her  and  she 
will  receive  her  just  punishment.  Now,  good-bye 
to  you!" 

So  Redflower  set  out  for  his  home.  When  he 
drew  near  some  one  saw  him  and  called  to  White 
Corn:  "Your  lost  husband  is  returning  home 
again."  White  Corn  with  her  two  sisters,  who  had 
been  helping  her  to  grind  corn,  ran  out  of  her  house. 
They  saw  the  wonderful  shining  circle  on  his  breast. 

"Oh  please,  give  that  shiny  circle  to  me?"  each 
one  cried. 


1 82        THE  FATE  OF  THE  WITCH  WIFE 

"I  cannot  give  it  to  all  of  you,"  replied  the  man, 
"but  if  you  will  stand  in  a  row  facing  me  in  the 
plaza,  I  will  roll  it  toward  you,  and  whoever  catches 
it  may  have  it." 

So  the  three  sisters  stood  in  a 
row  with  White  Corn  in  the  cen- 
ter. He  rolled  the  disc  straight 
toward  White  Corn  and  it  struck 
the  buckskin  with  which  one  of  her  legs  was 
wrapped.  Immediately  she  turned  into  a  snake 
with  a  shiny  head  and  wriggled  hurriedly  away. 
And  ever  since  that  time  rattle  snakes  have  had 
shiny  heads. 


GREEN   CORN,   YELLOW   CORN  AND  THE 
DANCING  FOX 

(Picuris  Pueblo) 

Once  upon  a  time  a  young  fox  lived  with  his 
grandmother  near  Nambe.  He  went  out  for  a  walk 
one  day.  Very  soon  he  came  to  a  fence  where  some 
choke  cherries  were  growing:  "I  shall  adorn  myself 
with  these  like  an  Indian,"  thought  young  Mr.  Fox, 
"and  go  over  to  Picuris  to  see  those  two  pretty 
Corn  girls."  Now  his  grandmother  had  warned 
him  to  keep  away  from  the  Indians,  for  they  would 
kill  him;  but  "Grandmother  is  old,"  he  thought, 
"and  doesn't  know."  So  he  picked  some  twigs  of 
cherries  and  fastened  them  in  his  hair,  in  his  belt, 
on  his  shoulders  and  around  his  ankles.  Then  he 
mashed  some  cherries,  and  rubbed  them  over  his 

body  and  hands  to  paint  himself  like  an   Indian. 

183 


184       THE  CORN  GIRLS  AND  THE  FOX 

When  he  was  all  decorated  he  danced  off  to  Picuris 
singing: 


Its-  ole  -  lay,          Its -char  -  lay.        Mah  -  toll -toll -high  -oh. 
"Green         corn,        Yel-low     corn.         I      come    to      see     you 


— -J   '  -J- — y    -j    * — -^r 

Oh  -  ee  -  yoh,  way  -    i    -    yeh.     Yah  -  hoe  -  ee  -  ah  -  ah  -  nay, 
Bring    -  ing  song     and   dance.  Now     this    step,     now         that. 


Yah -hoe  -  ee  -  ah  -  ah  -  nay,   oh  -  ee  -  yoh,  Whay  -  ye  -  ay-ee  -  ay-yeh. 
Now  this  step,  now       that,  Joy  -  f  ul  -  ly,       hap  -  pi  -  ly,         I  come. 


1 


Yah  -  hoe  -  ee  -  ah  -  ee  -  ah  -  nay.   Yah  -  hoe  -  ee  -  ah  -  ee  -  ah  -  nay. 
Come    be     my     in-spi  -ra-tiont  Come    be    my     in  -  spi  -  ra  -tion! " 


Yellow  Corn  and  Green  Corn  were  in  their  house 
grinding  corn  when  they  heard  Mr.  Fox's  singing. 

"Mr.  Fox  is  calling  our  names,"  said  Green 
Corn,  "Let  us  go  up  and  see  where  he  is." 

So  the  two  girls  climbed  up  on  top  of  their  house- 
Mr.  Fox  was  below  dancing  as  hard  as  he  could. 
The  girls  cried,  "Come  up  here,  Mr.  Fox,  and 
dance  for  us!" 


Mr.  Fox  came  up  the  ladder  and 
began  dancing  on  the  roof. 


THE  CORN  GIRLS  AND  THE  FOX       185 

Mr.  Fox  felt  flattered  so  he  came  up  the  ladder 
and  began  dancing  on  the  roof. 

"Dance  hard,  Mr.  Fox,  dance  hard!"  laughed 
Green  Corn  and  Yellow  Corn.  And  Mr.  Fox 
danced  so  hard  that  he  fell  off  the  roof.  But  he 
jumped  up  from  the  ground  where  he  had  fallen, 
climbed  up  the  ladder,  and  danced  and  danced 
again  on  the  roof. 

When  the  Corn  girls  grew  tired  of  his  dancing, 
they  grabbed  poor  Mr.  Fox,  took  all  of  the  choke 
cherries  off  him  and  ate  them  up. 

The  people  in  the  village  heard  the  girls  laughing, 
so  they  came  out  to  see  what  was  the  cause  of  so 
much  merriment.  The  men  ran  for  their  bows  and 
arrows,  and  poor  Mr.  Fox  just  did  get  away  alive 
from  all  the  arrows  that  flew  after  him. 

He  bathed  his  wounds  in  the  spring  on  his  way 
home  and  decided  that  ever  afterward  he  would  pay 
more  attention  to  what  Grandmother  Fox  said. 


A  LITTLE  CINDERELLA 

(Picuris  Pueblo) 

Once  upon  a  time  Yellow  Corn  and  Blue  Corn 
had  a  little  sister  whom  they  treated  very  unkindly. 
They  made  her  live  out  in  the  turkey  house,  where 
she  had  to  eat  with  the  turkeys,  and  they  did  not 


They  jumped  into  the  spring  to  bathe 

give  her  any  clothes  to  wear  except  a  few  of  their 
old  ragged  ones. 

Every  day  this  little  girl  had  to  go  out  with  the 
turkeys  and  watch  them  to  keep  them  from  wan- 
dering away  and  getting  lost.  One  day  the  turkeys 

led  her  to  a  spring.     They  jumped  into  the  spring 

1 86 


A  LITTLE  CINDERELLA  187 

to  bathe  and  each  turkey  dropped  something  nice 
for  their  kind  little  keeper.  The  first  turkey  drop- 
ped some  pretty  feathers  as  he  jumped  into  the 
water;  the  second  turkey  dropped  a  pair  of  moc- 
casins from  his  feet;  the  third  turkey  dropped  a 
belt;  and  the  fourth  turkey,  a  new  black  dress. 
The  little  girl  was  very  happy.  She  dressed  up  in 
the  new  clothes  and  set  out  for  home  with  the 
turkeys. 

Some  children  in  the  village  saw  her  coming. 
"Oh  look!"  they  cried,  "There  comes  Yellow 
Corn's  and  Blue  Corn's  sister  all  dressed  up  in 
some  new  clothes!" 

Yellow  Corn  and  Blue  Corn  heard  them  and  ran 
out  to  see  if  what  they  heard  was  true.  When 
they  saw  the  new  clothes  they  ran  to  their  little 
sister: 

"How  lovely  your  clothes  are!"  said  Yellow 
Corn,  "Come,  go  into  the  house  with  us  and  let 
us  see  them." 

"Yes,"  said  Blue  Corn,  "Come  in  and  we  will 
give  you  some  corn  cakes  and  deer's  meat." 


1 88  A  LITTLE  CINDERELLA 

"No,  thank  you,"  replied  the  little  sister,  "I 
had  rather  stay  with  my  turkeys  and  eat  with 
them  just  as  I  have  always  done."  For  she  knew 
that  Yellow  Corn  and  Blue  Corn  would  be  unkind 
to  her  again  as  soon  as  her  clothes  grew  old,  and 
perhaps  they  would  take  her  clothes  away  from  her 
if  she  went  in;  but  the  turkeys  had  always  treated 
her  kindly. 

"Well,  go  on  then  with  your  old  turkeys,"  said 
the  Corn  girls,  and  they  picked  up  handfuls  of 
pebbles  and  threw  them  at  the  little  girl  and  the 
turkeys. 

Early  the  following  morning  the  little  girl  said  to 
the  turkeys,  "My  sisters  are  so  unkind  to  me  that 
I  am  going  into  the  hole  (The  hole  that  swallows 
people  down  and  they  never  come  back  again); 
but  do  not  follow  me.  They  will  be  mean  to  you, 
too,  when  I  am  gone,  so  do  not  let  them  catch  you. 
When  they  chase  you,  fly  away  to  the  north,  the 
south,  the  east  and  the  west."  And  the  little  girl 
and  the  turkeys  went  out  towards  the  hole.  They 
walked  along  singing.  The  little  girl  sang:  "Tur- 


A  LITTLE  CINDERELLA  189 


Lay  -  loo,    lay  -  lay,    wah     pShS  see-er.        Lay  -  loo,     lay  -  loo, 


wah  -   pihi     see  -  er.  Ah  -  qui  -  tah  -  oh,          an  -  nee, 

S"    "  ^>  I f_ t  t 

=^      3£=± X.       -& — If    I    f==4 T" .X — JJ 


Ah  -  qui  -  tah  -    oh,         an  -  nee.    Piu.       piu.     chow,   chow. 

keys,  turkeys,  leaf  on  water.  Turkeys,  turkeys,  leaf 
on  water.  See  how  it  floats  so  light.  See  how  it 
floats  so  light,"  and  the  turkeys  answered,  "Piu, 
piu,  chow,  chow." 

When  they  reached  the  river  they  met  an  old 
man  with  a  load  of  wood  on  his  back:  "Where 
are  you  going  with  your  turkeys,  little  girl?"  he 
asked. 

"I  am  going  into  the  hole"  she  replied,  "My 
sisters  are  so  unkind  to  me  that  I  am  not  happy,  so 
I  am  going  into  the  hole" 

The  old  man  put  down  his  wood  and  hurried  to 
the  village  to  find  yellow  Corn  and  Blue  Corn. 

"Go  catch  your  sister!"  he  told  them,  "and  tell 
her  you  will  not  be  unkind  to  her  any  more;  for  she 


190  A  LITTLE  CINDERELLA 

is  going  into  the  hole  to  tell  the  good  spirits  in  the 
earth  about  you." 

Yellow  Corn  and  Blue  Corn  ran  as  fast  as  they 
could  to  catch  their  sister.  The  turkeys  saw  them 
coming  and  flew  away  to  the  north,  south,  east  and 


She  was  almost  down  in  the  hole 

west.  When  they  overtook  the  little  girl  she  was 
almost  down  in  the  hole.  They  caught  her  by  the 
hair  and  tried  to  pull  her  out.  "Come  back,  little 
sister  and  we  will  be  good  to  you."  But  the  little 
sister  knew  better  than  that. 

"How  can  I  come  out  if  you  hold  my  hair? 
Please  turn  it  loose,"  she  said. 

The  girls  thought  she  was  coming  back  so  they 
turned  loose  her  hair;  but.  the  little  sister  dis- 
appeared out  of  their  sight  forever  and  lived 
happily  with  the  good  spirits  in  the  hole. 


THE  BOY,  THE  COYOTE  AND  THE  MAGIC 

ROCK 

(Sezma,  a  Laguna  village) 

Long,  long  ago  a  boy  lived  with  his  grandmother. 
He  was  a  good  boy  so  that  all  of  the  fairies  of  the 
wood  were  kind  to  him,  especially  the  fairy  who 
lived  in  a  big  rock  on  the  side  of  a  cliff. 

One  day  the  boy  said  to  his  grandmother, 
"Grandmother,  let  us  invite  our  neighbor  Mrs. 
Coyote  and  her  baby  coyotes  in  to  dinner  with  us 
today.  They  seem  lean  and  hungry  of  late.  She 
must  have  a  hard  time  providing  food  for  so 
many."  So  the  boy  went  over  and  invited  the 
coyotes  to  dine  with  him. 

After  they  had  eaten  all  the  food  in  the  house, 
the  coyotes  still  seemed  hungry;  so  the  boy  invited 
them  to  go  outside  where  he  could  get  them  more 
to  eat. 

"Little  fairy  in  the  rock,"  he  called,  "come  down 

191 


192 


THE  MAGIC  ROCK 


with  your  table!"  And  a  big  rock  table  came  down 
from  the  cliff-side  laden  with  good  things  to  eat. 
The  hungry  coyotes  had  a  wonderful  feast. 

Several  days  later  Mrs.  Coyote  returned  the  favor 
and  invited  the  boy  and  his  grandmother  to  have 
dinner  with  her.  She  served  a  very  poor  dinner 

iwAfij  because  she  thought  she  could 

)P 
/'"  do  as  the  boy  had  done,  and 

get    the    little    rock-fairy    to 
bring  down    a   table  of  good 
things.       So    after    they   had 
finished  their  poor  meal,  Mrs. 
Coyote  invited  her  guests  to 
go  outside  with  her. 
"Little   Fairy   in   the    rock,"    she   cried,    "bring 
down  your  table!" 

But  the  table  did  not  come.  Mrs  Coyote  called 
four  times  and  then  she  yelled,  "Bring  down  that 
table,  I  say!" 

Then  down  fell  a  big  rock  from  the  cliff  right  on 
top  of  the  baby  coyotes,  who  were  huddled  all 
together  under  the  cliff  waiting  for  the  table.  The 


Down  fell  a  big  rock  right  on 
top  of  the  baby  coyotes 


THE  MAGIC  ROCK  193 

rock  was  so  big  and  fell  so  hard  that  it  killed  every 
one  of  them,  and  reminded  Mrs.  Coyote  that  fairies 
were  gentle  creatures  and  must  be  treated  in  a 
kindly  manner. 


THE  BAD  LITTLE  GIRL  OF  ACOMA 

(Seama,  a  Laguna  Village) 

Once  upon  a  time  there  lived  in  Acoma  a  very 
bad  little  girl.  Her  mother  sent  her  out  one  day  to 
mind  the  turkeys  while  they  grazed;  but  she  played 
around  and  did  not  watch  the  turkeys  at  all.  That 
evening  when  she  came  home  one  turkey  hen  was 
missing. 

"Go  and  find  that  other  turkey,"  said  her 
mother,  "and  bring  her  home  before  a  coyote  gets 
her." 

But  the  bad  little  girl  did  not  obey  her  mother. 
She  went  outside,  took  off  her  belt,  her  top  black 
dress,  her  kerchief  and  her  moccasins  and  slept  all 
night  under  the  ladder.  Early  the  next  morning 
she  went  out  to  find  the  turkey.  The  turkey  hen 
was  keeping  an  egg  warm  on  her  nest  in  the  hole 

of  a  big  rock.    When  the  bad  little  girl  found  her, 

194 


THE  BAD  GIRL  OF  ACOMA  195 

she  grabbed  her  up  by  the  neck;  and  then  with  the 
turkey  hen  under  her  arm  and  the  egg  in  her  hand, 
she  started  across  the  prairie  singing: 


m 


m 


I         I 


Shkroo-sat-snh-oo-tsay.ko-ah-cun-met-tal  sue-tsay.  Toe, toe, toe, toe. 

"I  am  going  East  to  jump  in  water,   water." 

"Toe,  toe,  toe,  toe,"  said  the  turkey. 

"Shut  up,  you  ugly  old  thing,"  said  the  bad 
little  girl,  slapping  the  poor  turkey's  head  at  the 
same  time.  "You  caused  me  to  get  a  scolding  last 
night,  so  I  am  going  to  drown  you  and  this  egg  of 
yours  in  the  water." 

Then  the  little  girl  sang  again  and 
slapped  the  turkey  whenever  she 
cried,  "Toe,  toe,  toe,  toe."  An  old 
man  with  a  load  of  wood  on  his  back 
passed  them. 

"Why    are    you    going    into    the 

An  old  man  with  a 

water,  little  girl,    asked  the  old  man.       ioad  of  wood  on  his 

"So  that  I  can  be  sure  to  drown 
this  hateful  old  turkey,"  replied  the  bad  little  girl. 


196  THE  BAD  GIRL  OF  ACOMA 

"Don't  be  foolish,  Child,"  said  the  old  man, 
"Come  go  home  with  me!" 

"No,"  replied  the  bad  little  girl,  "you  leave  me 
alone.  I  am  going  into  the  water,  I  tell  you,  to 
drown  myself  with  this  old  turkey  that  caused  me 
to  get  a  scolding;  and  make  my  mother  unhappy  for 
scolding  me." 

So  on  went  the  little  girl  still  singing  and  slapping 
the  turkey. 

The  old  man  dropped  his  wood  and  went  as  fast 
as  he  could  to  tell  the  little  girl's  mother  what  he 
had  seen  and  heard.  The  mother  picked  up  the 
little  girl's  clothes  and  hurried  after  her;  but  before 
she  reached  the  water,  she  saw  the  bad  little  girl 
throw  the  turkey's  egg  into  the  water,  then  the 
turkey  and,  last  of  all,  jump  in  herself.  The 
water  swallowed  the  little  girl  up  before  her  mother 
could  reach  her. 

"Oh,  Water  God,"  cried  the  mother,  "give  me 
back  my  little  girl!" 

But  the  little  girl  did  not  come  back.  The 
mother  threw  the  girl's  dress  into  the  water,  hoping 


THE  BAD  GIRL  OF  ACOMA  197 

to  bring  her  back,  but  it  turned  into  a  deer  and  ran 

away.    She  threw  the  moccasins  in  and  they  turned 

immediately  into  two  bears.    Then  she 

threw  in  the  kerchief.     It  turned  into 

green  slime  on  top  of  the  water.    Finally 

she  threw  in  the  belt  and  it  changed 

into    a    water    snake.      Nothing    could 

bring  the  bad  little  girl  back,  for  she  was  far  too 

mean  to  live. 


GLOSSARY 

Pueblo  and  Plaza-.  The  Pueblo  Indians  of  the  South- 
west get  their  name  from  the  communal  houses  in  which 
they  used  to  live  at  the  time  of  the  first  Spanish  explo- 
ration. Pueblo  is  the  Spanish  word  for  people.  The 
Indians  lived  in  houses  two  or  three  stories  high,  all  joined 
so  as  to  form  one  or  two  large,  irregular,  flat-topped  build- 
ings. When  the  Spaniards  first  saw  them  they  called 
them  "People  Houses;  "  and  since  an  Indian  village 
consisted  of  nothing  more  than  these  large  houses  with 
an  open  court  somewhere  inside,  which  is  still  called  by 
the  Spanish  term,  the  plaza,  where  many  of  their  cele- 
brations and  ceremonies  take  place — the  village  itself 
soon  became  known  as  &pueblo\  and  the  Indians  as  Pueblo 
Indians.  The  only  examples  of  these  old  communal 
houses  in  use  today  are  to  be  found  in  Taos,  Acoma  and 
among  the  Hopis  and  Zunis.  In  Taos,  in  the  north  cen- 
tral part  of  New  Mexico,  practically  all  of  the  in- 
habitants live  in  two  large  structures.  Formerly,  the 
entrance  doors  were  all  on  top  of  the  houses,  so  that  one 
could  get  in  only  by  climbing  crude  ladders  to  the  flat 
roofs  and  descending  other  ladders  into  the  inside. 

Adobe:    The  word  adobe  is  "traceable  to  an  Egyptian 

199 


200  GLOSSARY 

hieroglyph  signifying  "brick;"  thence  to  Arabic,  whence 
the  Spanish  adobar,  " to  daub,"  "to  plaster,"  adopted  in 
the  United  States  from  Mexico.  The  Pueblo  houses, 
called  adobe  houses,  are  made  of  wooden  beams,  etc.,  and 
adobe  bricks.  These  bricks  are  made  of  a  peculiar  clay, 
known  in  the  Southwest  as  "adobe  clay  "  because  of 
its  use,  mixed  with  wheat  straw  and  sunbaked  in  the 
same  fashion  as  the  bricks  made  by  the  Israelites  for  the 
Egyptians.  After  the  brick  walls  are  laid  they  are 
plastered  over  both  inside  and  outside  with  adobe  clay 
and  frequently  washed  with  white  gypsum  on  the  inside. 
The  women  usually  do  the  plastering  and  they  use  their 
hands  as  trowels. 

Pueblo  Indians:  There  are  five  branches  of  the  Pueblo 
tribe  of  Indians  living  in  New  Mexico  and  Arizona,  each 
speaking  a  different  dialect:  The  Tanos,  divided  into 
the  Tiwas  and  Tewas;  the  Queres;  the  Hopis;  the  Jemez; 
and  the  Zunis.  The  Tiwas  comprise  the  villages  of  Taos, 
Picuris,  the  two  Isletas  and  Sandia;  the  Tewas  comprise 
San  Juan,  Santa  Clara,  San  Ildefonso,  Nambe  and  Po- 
joaque;  the  Queres  comprise  Cochiti,  Santo  Domingo, 
Sia,  San  Felipe,  Santa  Ana,  the  Laguna  villages  and  the 
three  Acoma  villages;  the  Jemez  in  Jemez  village;  the 
Hopis  (Moquis)  living  in  nine  villages  on  First,  Second 
and  Third  Mesas  in  Arizona;  and  the  Zunis,  with  whom 
this  collection  does  not  deal. 


GLOSSARY  201 

The  Tiwas  of  Taos  always  begin  their  tales  with  the 
expression  Kah-men-mah-tum-ka,  meaning  something 
like  "once  upon  a  time."  The  Tiwas  of  Picuris  begin 
Wen-ter^  which  has  a  similar  meaning.  The  Tewas  always 
begin  Oh-way-way-ham-by-yoh,  "once  upon  a  time,  long 
ago."  Most  of  the  Queres  begin  by  saying  Hum-ah-ha, 
meaning  "long,  long  ago;  "  and  the  person  to  whom  the 
tale  is  being  related  replies,  Eh-eh  and  the  tale  proceeds. 
In  Santo  Domingo,  and  perhaps  in  others,  they  begin 
a  story  with  an  expression  meaning,  "I  am  going  to  tell 
you  something."  The  Jemez  Indians  begins  with  Dee- 
pah-lawy  "long  time  ago."  The  vowels  of  their  language 
seem  to  be  sounded  much  shorter  and  softer  than  those 
of  the  neighboring  Indians.  Their  dialect  is  exceedingly 
musical.  The  Hopis  begin  their  stories  with  the  expression 
Hah-lick-sah-eey  the  meaning  of  which  I  have  been  unable 
to  discover.  It  probably  takes  the  place  of  our  "Well  " 
or  "Listen." 

Time  of  tale-telling-.  Tales  are  never  told  by  the  old- 
time  Indians  during  any  but  the  winter  months.  Their 
corn  crops  will  be  frost  bitten  or  poisonous  snakes  will 
bite  them  if  they  tell  tales  at  any  other  time.  This  super- 
stition probably  grew  up  among  them  because  tale- 
telling  during  spring,  summer  and  autumn  interferes 
seriously  with  agricultural  pursuits;  and  in  the  semi-arid 
country  in  which  these  Indians  have  lived,  the  raising 


202  GLOSSARY 

of  corn  is  a  hard  and  laborious  task;  but  a  task  most  vital, 
since  corn  is  their  main  food.  But  during  the  winter 
months  groups  of  children  sometimes  sit  around  some 
old  grandfather  and  listen  to  tales  all  night  long,  night 
after  night. 

Songs:  Many  of  the  Indian  stories  burst  into  song  at 
some  thrilling  or  dramatic  point;  and  the  same  song  will 
be  sung  from  one  to  ten  or  more  times  in  the  same  story. 
For  instance,  if  Mr.  Fox  is  trotting  along  singing  as  he 
goes,  instead  of  expressing  it  like  the  foregoing  clause 
and  then  singing  the  song  at  its  conclusion,  they  will  say: 
Mr.  Fox  got  to  the  arroyo  and  sang  (relater  sings  here), 
Mr.  Fox  got  to  a  cedar  tree  and  sang  (song  again),  Mr.  Fox 
got  to  the  stone  and  sang  (song  a  third  time),  Mr.  Fox 
got  to  a  man's  house  and  sang  (song  a  fourth  time), 
et  cetera,  until  Mr.  Fox  reaches  the  end  of  his  journey. 

Most  of  the  wording  of  the  songs  is  mere  meaningless 
syllables;  originally  sung  perhaps  without  rhyme  or 
reason  just  as  a  very  small  child  sings,  and  then  handed 
down  from  generation  to  generation  with  very  slight 
changes;  again  the  syllables  are  used  in  imitation  of  the 
sounds  of  animals  or  nature;  and,  occasionally,  the 
syllables  form  a  few  words  relative  to  the  tales  they 
accompany.  A  few  songs,  however,  are  almost  entirely 
made  up  of  words  and  phrases  that  have  meaning;  but 
as  far  as  I  can  ascertain  these  songs  are  few. 


GLOSSARY  203 

Songs  are  generally  accompanied  with  a  drum  made 
of  dried  skins  and  highly  colored,  formerly  with  herb  or 
vegetable  stains  or  with  clay  washes. 

Ovens:  The  small  dome-shaped  adobe  ovens  are  used 
just  as  the  old  Dutch  ovens  of  Pennsylvania  were  used. 
A  fire  is  built  in  the  oven  and  when  it  becomes  sufficiently 
hot  the  coals  are  all  raked  out  and  the  bread  put  in  to 
bake  in  the  heat.  Squashes  are  also  baked  in  them  and 
sometimes,  as  during  the  visit  of  the  Schah-ve-yoh,  two 
disciplinarians,  children  are  hidden  in  them. 

Ceremonies,  commonly  known  as  Indian  Dances:  The 
Pueblo  Indians  have  two  cycles  of  ceremonies,  the 
summer  dances  and  the  winter  dances.  These  dances 
originated  in  a  quest  for  food.  During  the  summer  there 
are  dance  ceremonies  to  bring  rain  for  germinating  and 
maturing  the  crops,  especially  the  corn  crops.  During 
the  autumn  there  are  harvest  dances  and  war  dances 
invoking  the  spirits  to  protect  their  harvest  from  mauraud- 
ing,  nomadic  enemies.  The  winter  dances  are  hunting 
dances  where  the  Indians  get  into  harmony  with  the 
animal  world  by  imitating  animals  of  the  chase  in  dress 
and  movement.  One  of  these  is  the  Buffalo  and  Deer 
Dance  in  the  tale  of  Juan  Half -Bear.  Hunters  go  out 
from  the  village  early  in  the  morning  and  drive  in  the 
deer  and  the  dance  begins  later  and  continues  at  intervals 
all  through  the  day  until  sundown.  Like  so  many  others, 


204  GLOSSARY 

the  Indian  works  harder  at  his  amusements  than  at  any- 
thing else,  consequently  these  dance  ceremonies  are 
wonderfully  dramatic  affairs.  In  many  of  the  dances 
there  are  kachinas  or  koshare  believed  to  be  the  spirits 
of  the  dead,  who  because  of  their  positions  as  departed 
souls  can  the  better  intercede  with  the  deities  in  behalf 
of  those  still  living. 

The  Pueblos  deify  and  worship  the  forces  of  nature 
as  manifested  about  them:  the  lightning,  the  cloud,  the 
wind,  the  snow,  the  rain,  the  rainbow,  the  dawn,  the  sun- 
set, the  fire — all  are  deific  beings.  The  sun,  the  moon  and 
the  sky  are  beings  of  power.  Deities  preside  over  springs, 
rivers  and  mountains;  and  a  Great  Spirit  rules  over  all 
the  surface  of  the  earth,  the  underworld  where  all  departed 
Hopis  are  believed  to  go,  and  death.  They  believe  in 
the  duality  of  all  things  both  animate  and  inanimate, 
the  world  and  all  it  contains  is  divided  into  the  male  and 
female  conception  of  duality.  Every  inanimate  object 
has  its  little  spirit  or  fairy,  like  the  fairy  in  the  ladder  in 
Pah-day  and  The  Wind-Witch.  Among  animals  and  in- 
sects there  are  many  gods.  The  eagle  is  considered  a 
deity  of  unusual  wisdom  because  of  his  position  so  far 
above  the  surface  of  the  earth,  from  which  vantage  point 
he  is  supposed  to  see  and  know  everything.  Among 
insects  the  spider  is  most  important,  as  shown  in  the 
witch  stories.  She  is  the  Spider  Woman  or  Earth  Goddess, 


GLOSSARY  205 

and,  among  the  Hopis,  as  the  spouse  of  the  Sun,  she  is 
the  mother  or  grandmother  of  the  mythical  warrior 
heroes  of  the  race.  And  so  among  their  stories  you  find 
the  eagle  or  the  spider  the  deus  ex  machina  in  relieving 
many  difficult  or  distressing  situations. 

Home  Dance  or  Farewell  Dance  of  the  Hopis:  The  picture 
of  the  preparation  or  beginning  of  this  dance  illustrates 
the  tale  of  The  Thieving  Foxes.  It  is  the  last  of  the  cycle 
of  Hopi  Kachina  dances.  It  appears  to  be  a  prayer  for 
rain  as  well  as  a  thanksgiving  dance  for  former  harvest- 
gifts  of  the  Sun  and  Rain  gods  and  the  Earth-Mother. 
The  large  head  masks  are  called  kachinas.  There  are  a 
large  variety  of  them,  each  representing  the  spirit  of  a 
departed  ancestor,  or  sometimes  a  departed  animal,  and 
the  person  wearing  the  kachina  becomes  the  embodiment 
of  the  spirit  represented.  The  performers  in  the  Home 
Dance  ceremony  often  carry  planting  sticks,  hoes  and 
other  emblematic  paraphernalia.  A  number  of  men  are 
dressed  as  female  kachinas  (thus  carrying  out  the  idea 
of  the  duality  of  productive  nature).  These  furnish  the 
accompaniment  to  the  dance  song,  sung  by  the  male 
kachinas,  by  rasping  the  dried  scapulae  of  sheep  over 
notched  sticks  placed  on  wooden  sounding  boxes. 

The  male  and  female  dancers  stand  in  two  lines  with 
the  food  offerings  in  piles  between  them  and  posture  to 
the  music.  The  males  turn  around  repeatedly  during 


206  GLOSSARY 

the  dance.  When  the  dance  is  over  the  piles  of  corn, 
beans,  melons,  cat-tails  which  they  chew  as  one  does 
sugar-cane, — baskets  of  peaches  and  apricots,  kachina 
dolls  and  bows  and  arrows  are  given  to  the  children,  who, 
naturally,  especially  enjoy  the  dance.  Finally  the 
dancers  carry  offerings  to  a  shrine  outside  of  the  town  and 
the  drama  of  the  Home  Dance  is  over. 

Snakes:  To  the  Tanos  and  Queres  Indians,  as  seen 
in  the  stories  of  the  fate  of  the  witch-girl  and  the  witch- 
wife,  it  is  a  severe  punishment  to  be  turned  into  a  snake 
and  have  to  crawl  on  one's  stomach  always;  but  the  Hopis 

/feel  differently  about  the  matter.  In  the  tale  Mr.  Get- 
Even  Coyote  the  snake  is  allowed  to  destroy  the  coyote, 
who  has  a  sad  fate  throughout  all  of  the  tales  in  which 
he  figures  because  of  his  predatory  habits. 

The  Hopis  believe  that  snakes  are  elder  blood  brothers 
of  their  Snake  Clan,  one  of  the  two  largest  social  and 
religious  orders  among  them.  The  legend  relates  that  an 
Indian  youth  embarked  in  a  hollow  log,  closed  except  for 
one  small  peep-hole,  and  went  down  the  Colorado  river 
to  its  mouth.  There  he  found  the  Spider  woman,  who 
advised  him  so  wisely  in  his  dealings  with  the  Snake 
people  living  there,  that  he  won  the  Chief's  daughter  and 
took  her  home  with  him,  together  with  the  rites  he  had 
learned,  which  are  now  practiced  by  the  Hopi  Snake 
Clan.  The  first  children  of  this  union  were  snakes,  who 


GLOSSARY  207 

were  driven  away  by  the  Hopis  because  of  their  bites. 
Later  human  children  were  born,  the  ancestors  of  the  pres- 
ent Snake  Clan.  And  so  the  Hopis  treat  snakes  in  a  very 
respectful  manner.  Every  other  year  they  worship  with 
them  in  their  great  snake  ceremony  called  the  Snake  Dance. 

Owls  and  Witches:  Supposedly  because  of  their  faculty 
to  see  and  hunt  by  night,  when  things  seem  spooky  and 
witchy,  owls  are  always  associated  with  witches  and  the 
feathers  of  owls  have  a  very  sinister  significance.  The 
Indians  believe  firmly  in  witches  and  attribute  many 
evils  to  their  machinations.  Cactuses  are  also  associated 
with  witchcraft  and  are  supposed  to  be  the  chief  food 
of  the  witches.  Witches  change  themselves  into  fire  and 
can  be  seen  all  around  a  village  when  any  one  in  the  village 
dies.  They  always  possess  a  hoop  of  evil  magical  power. 

The  Value  of  Water-.  In  the  semi-arid  Southwest  during 
a  season  of  drought  where  animals  and  sometimes  men  are 
dying  from  thirst,  it  is  a  crime  equal  to  murder  to  steal 
water;  and  hence  the  fate  of  poor  Bunny  Rabbit  when 
he  steals  water  at  the  coyote's  spring  in  The  Gum  Baby. 

Corn  Meal  and  The  Most  Popular  Form  of  Bread: 
The  Pueblo  Indians  grind  corn  with  stone  slabs  on 
metates — three  or  four  sloping  stones  ranging  from  rough 
to  smooth.  On  the  first  stone  they  break  up  the  corn 
and  reduce  it  to  fine  flour  on  the  fourth,  toasting  it  after 
each  grinding.  The  women  do  the  grinding  and  several 


208  GLOSSARY 

women  grind  together,  as  shown  in  the  illustration  of  the 
story,  Poh-ve  and  Pah-day.  In  olden  times  when  the  men 
were  going  to  the  plains  to  trade  with  the  Comanches, 
the  women  used  to  grind  whole  loads  of  meal  for  them  to 
carry.  Several  women  would  grind  together  all  night. 
Meanwhile  the  men  sang  the  grinding  song  or  beat  a 
drum,  and  the  women  kept  time  to  the  music  with  slow 
regular  strokes.  In  Hopi  land  "grinding  is  still  the  daily 
occupation  of  women.  Where  there  are  several  women 
in  a  house,  the  unmarried  girls  do  the  grinding,  while 
the  married  women  bring  water.  Girls  grind  for  their 
father's  sisters,  and  make  parties  to  do  the  same  work  in 
one  another's  houses;  married  women  grind  occasionally 
for  their  mothers-in-law.  Girls  sing  while  they  grind 
and  smear  their  faces  with  meal  before  and  after  grinding; 
and  this  is  playfully  recommended  as  a  way  of  learning 
the  task.  They  also  powder  their  faces  with  meal  when 
they  are  in  full  dress." 

The  buwa  of  the  Tewa  Indians  and  the  piki  of  the 
Hopis  is  a  wafer  bread.  It  is  a  staple  article  of  food  and 
is  kept  on  hand  all  the  time.  It  "is  made  on  a  rectangular 
slab  of  fine  grained  stone,  about  3  feet  square,  laboriously 
hewn  and  polished,  which  rests  on  stones  at  the  ends  or 
at  the  four  corners.  This  slab  stands  under  a  wide  open 
chimney  in  a  special  room;  it  is  heated  by  a  fire  built 
beneath  it.  A  soft  liquid  dough  or  batter  is  prepared  in 


GLOSSARY  209 

a  mixing  bowl,  and  when  the  stone  has  been  thoroughly 
heated  and  wiped  with  a  greasy  rag,  a  small  quantity 
of  the  batter  is  spread  over  the  surface  by  a  quick,  sweeping 
motion  of  the  hand,  leaving  a  thin  even  layer.  In  a  few 
seconds  this  layer  of  dough  is  so  far  cooked  that  it  can  be 
peeled  off  entire  by  one  of  its  corners;  it  is  laid  aside  on  a 
wickerwork  tray,  and  a  second  layer  is  spread  on  the 
stone.  While  this  is  cooking  the  first  sheet  of  buwa  is 
laid  over  it  again  to  benefit  by  the  heat;  then  the  first 
and  second  sheets  are  removed,  a  third  layer  is  spread, 
and  the  second  sheet  is  laid  above  the  third  for  extra 
cooking;  and  so  on.  When  a  bowlful  of  the  batter  has  been 
used,  there  is  a  pause  in  the  work;  the  semi-transparent 
sheets  are  folded  in  four,  and  generally  the  four-fold 
sheets  are  rolled  into  cylinders.'*  (Bureau  of  Ethnology, 
Bulletin  55). 

The  buwa  dough  is  generally  made  of  blue  corn  meal 
from  the  Hopi  blue  maize  mixed  with  a  few  ashes  to  give 
it  a  greenish  blue  color  and  with  a  little  salt  and  water. 
Sometimes  for  special  occasions  the  Hopi  piki  is  made 
of  very  white  corn  meal  either  left  white  or  dyed  pink  or 
yellow  with  some  vegetable  dyes. 

Sacred  Corn  Meal:  Corn  meal  (white)  mixed  with 
corn  pollen  and  perhaps  other  things  sacred  to  the  Indians 
is  used  as  an  offering  to  the  gods,  especially  by  the  women, 
as  men  often  use  the  feathers  of  sacred  birds,  in  all 


210  GLOSSARY 

ceremonies  and  almost  all  daily  tasks.  The  throwing  or 
blowing  of  a  small  quantity  of  sacred  meal  seems  to  be  a 
silent  prayer  in  itself. 

Pinoni  A  small  pine  tree  found  on  the  low  hills  and 
mountains  of  the  Southwest  bearing  a  cone  filled  with 
small  edible  nut  seeds.  These  nuts  are  shaped  and 
flavored  like  a  tiny  pistachio;  but  instead  of  green  they  are 
brown  in  color.  They  are  considered  a  great  delicacy  by 
the  natives,  who  try  to  get  ahead  of  certain  rodents  and 
a  blue  jay,  known  as  the  pifion  jay,  in  collecting  the  nuts. 
A  pifion  pine  is  shown  in  the  illustration  of  The  Fox  and 
The  Mice;  and  a  pifion  jay  is  flying  with  Bunny  Rabbit  in 
Bunny  Rabbit  and  the  King  of  Beasts. 

The  Hole:  The  Hole  in  the  story,  A  Little  Cinderella,  is 
a  crater  of  an  extinct  volcano.  The  crater  is  supposed 
to  lead  down  into  spirit-land. 

Going  Into  The  Water:  Some  of  the  Indians  used  to 
believe  that  there  were  spirits  living  at  the  bottom  of 
large  bodies  of  water,  who  would  receive  drowned  people 
into  their  villages.  So  the  girls  in  stories  who  go  into  the 
wafer,  simply  move  to  a  new  and  different  kind  of  village. 

Eagles:  Eagles  like  Dy-yoh-wis  eagle  are  often  owned 
and  kept  tethered  in  a  village  by  some  men,  or  group  of 
men,  for  the  sake  of  their  feathers.  The  poor  things  look 
half-picked  all  the  time. 

Meaning  of  some  of  the  names  used,  not  explained  in  the 


GLOSSARY  211 

text:  Tee-yohy  Hopi  for  boy;  Man-nahy  Hopi  for  girl; 
Poo-zvah-ka,  Hopi  for  witch;  and  Ye-ahy  Tewa  for  mother. 

Personification  of  Corn :  The  Blue  Corn,  Yellow  Corn, 
Green  Corn,  White  Corn  and  Dwarf  Corn  maidens  used 
in  the  tales  are  personifications  of  the  growing  corn; 
Blue  Corn  representing  the  maiden  of  the  corn  bearing  a 
blue  ear,  et  cetera. 

Arroyo:  "The  dry  bed  of  a  stream  "  is  explained  in 
Bunny  Cottontail  and  the  Crane. 

Kiva:  Kivas  were  originally  circular  chambers  built 
almost  wholly  underground  with  the  entrance  through  a 
hatchway  on  top,  by  means  of  a  ladder,  which  was  always 
made  with  long  poles  pointing  skyward.  Kivas  were 
the  "club  houses,"  so  to  speak,  of  the  different  clans  or 
religious  orders  of  a  village;  each  village  having  as  many 
kivas  as  there  were  separate  orders.  The  kivas  were  for 
the  men;  women  were  permitted  entrance  only  to  take 
food  to  the  men  or  to  witness  certain  ceremonies.  All 
the  clan's  special  secret  rites  and  ceremonies  take  place  in 
the  kiva;  and  formerly  young  unmarried  men  belonging 
to  a  certain  clan  slept  in  that  clan's  kiva. 

Medicine  Men's  Ceremony:  The  medicine  or  mystery 
men  were  supposed  to  have  obtained  from  the  deities 
powers  of  recognizing  and  removing  the  mysterious  causes 
of  disease.  He  was  "given  "  appropriate  songs,  chants 
or  prayers  and  became  possessed  of  one  or  more  powerful 


212  GLOSSARY 

fetishes.  They  used  sleight  of  hand  in  removing  the 
disease,  generally  feigning  to  extract  soiled  rags  from 
the  affected  parts  of  the  sufferer's  body. 

In  the  picture  of  the  medicine-men's  ceremony  in  Pah- 
day  and  The  Wind-Witch,  the  ceremony  was  described 
by  a  Tewa  as  follows: 

The  main  business  of  the  chief  medicine-man,  seated  in 
the  picture,  is  to  furnish  the  music  by  singing  and  shaking 
his  rattle.  First  they  make  a  rainbow  on  the  floor  with 
sacred  corn  meal,  with  lightning  symbols  shooting  off 
from  the  ends  of  the  rainbow.  The  inside  of  the  rainbow 
is  then  checked  off  with  meal;  and  the  fetishes,  consisting 
of  clay-washed  stone  bears,  wooden  dolls  painted  white 
and  adorned  with  turquoise  ear-rings  and  feathers,  and 
gray  stone  dolls,  are  placed  in  the  checks.  In  the  center 
of  all  is  a  charmed  bowl  of  sacred  water. 

Then  the  ceremony  proper  begins.  Each  medicine 
man  takes  a  bit  of  meal  from  his  little  sacred  meal-bag, 
places  it  to  his  lips  and  blows  it  toward  the  four  cardinal 
points.  The  two  standing  medicine-men  examine  the 
patient  and  draw  out  from  the  painful  spots,  by  sleight- 
of-hand,  sticks,  stones,  rusty  nails,  dirty  rags  et  cetera, 
supposed  to  be  the  materialization  of  the  disease.  These 
they  immediately  destroy.  Then  the  men  sit  down  on 
the  floor  beside  the  singer.  He  puts  into  the  mouth  of 
each  of  them  a  bit  of  herb  medicine  and  they  begin  to 


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GLOSSARY  213 

**act  crazy."  Then  they  both  peer  into  the  bowl  of  water, 
where  they  are  supposed  to  see  and  find  out  the  where- 
abouts of  a  witch,  who  is  responsible  for  the  disorders 
of  the  patient.  After  that  the  two  men  rush  out  of  the 
house  and  return  after  a  short  interval  with  a  witch  made 
of  vari-colored  rags,  with  corn  husks  in  her  hair.  They 
dance  around  with  the  witch  to  the  accompaniment  of 
the  third  man's  singing,  shaking  their  rattles  as  they 
dance.  After  so  long  a  time  the  witch  mysteriously 
disappears.  One  of  the  medicine-men  then  lends  to  the 
patient  the  fetish  considered  the  proper  one  for  his  case; 
and  the  ceremony  is  over.  The  patient  ties  the  fetish — 
generally  a  stone  bear,  with  a  little  sacred  meal,  up  in  a 
rag  and  fastens  it  around  his  waist.  He  wears  this  for 
four  days:  and,  at  the  end  of  that  time,  it  is  returned  with 
an  offering  to  its  owner,  the  medicine-man.  Recently, 
the  offering  has  consisted  of  a  certain  amount  of  wheat 
flour.  "In  four  days,"  said  the  Tewa  relater,  "the  sick 
person  is  generally  well;  but  sometimes  he  is  dead." 


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